Gardeners of the Galaxy

Exploring Shijian-19 with NotebookLM (GotG63)

Happy new year and welcome to the first episode for 2025! For this episode, Emma the Space Gardener is experimenting with a non-human Mission Specialist, Google's "virtual research assistant" NotebookLM. Together, they're learning about China's recoverable Shijian-19 satellite, and the seeds it took into space.
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Transporting Plants with Dr Nathaniel Ward (GotG62)

Throughout human history, when people have moved around the globe, they’ve taken their plants with them. They’ve carried with them the plants they relied on for food, for health, and for happiness.
But when European colonisers began to transport plants from far flung locations, they ran into a problem - keeping plants alive during long sea voyages.
In this episode, I tell the story of the man who solved it - Dr Nathaniel Ward, inventor of the Wardian case.
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Aquaponics on Mars with Benz Kotzen (GotG61)

Our Mission Specialist for this episode is Benz Kotzen, a Professor of Landscape Architecture and Nature Based Solutions at the University of Greenwich. He’s here to tell us about his FEEDING MARS project, which showcased a live experiment growing vegetables, herbs and fruits in Martian simulant soils, using fish effluents from an aquaponic system as fertilizer.
Sign up for the Gardeners of the Galaxy: MIssion Report newsletter to get new episode alerts and bonus astrobotany content: https://emmadoughty.substack.com/.

Space Fruit and Flowers (GotG60)

It’s Gardeners of the Galaxy’s fourth birthday! To celebrate this auspicious event, I looked up what would be a suitable fourth anniversary gift. Traditionally, there are two that fit that bill – fruit and flowers. So Ryan and I have baked a lemon cake with strawberry frosting and sugar flower decorations, and I have picked two fun stories from the astrobotany archives to share with you.
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Plant Telomeres in Space with Borja Barbero Barcenilla (GotG59)

Our Mission Specialist for this episode is the wonderful Borja Barbero Barcenilla, who is talking about what happens to plant telomeres in space. Borja and I had a brilliant chat about his breathtaking research, including an upcoming flight experiment, a special mutant Arabidopsis strain, and the sci-fi experience of putting your plants into a particle accelerator. And if you’ve ever wondered what plant a Spaniard would choose to take into space, well… you won’t want to miss it!
 
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Space Ecology with Patrick Grubbs (GotG58)

Our Mission Specialist for this episode is Patrick Grubbs, who recently completed a Professional Science Master's degree in Controlled Environment Agriculture at the University of Arizona. Patrick is one of the people behind the Space Ecology Workshop, an annual virtual symposium on bioregenerative life support, space agriculture, closed ecological systems, and more. He also co-founded The Spring Institute for Forests on the Moon, an international non-profit research organization developing closed ecological life support technology and working to democratize space access in underrepresented countries. The Spring Institute is working on some really exciting astrobotany projects, and Patrick is here to tell us about... some of them!
 
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Space Science with Marshall Porterfield (GotG57)

In this episode, Emma the Space Gardener talks with Marshall Porterfield, Professor of Biological Engineering & Space Biophysics at Purdue University, who offers up some highlights from his long career in space science.
 
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The First Plants on the Space Shuttle (GotG56)

In the summer of 1863, a world-famous English botanist was pondering why the shoots of climbing plants twirl around as they grow. In this episode, join Emma the Space Gardener as she explores the fascinating world of plant movement, and what that has to do with the first plants that ever flew on NASA's space shuttle.
 
Sign up for the Gardeners of the Galaxy: MIssion Report newsletter to get new episode alerts and bonus astrobotany content: https://emmadoughty.substack.com/.