Choose a plant and convince us why it should go to space.
Investigate which plants could be valuable for future space explorers, considering nutrition, ease of growth, resilience, cultural importance and quality of life.
Investigate how we could grow plants in space.
Develop and test ideas for cultivating plants in extraterrestrial environments through a ground-based experiment.
New Zealand students are invited to submit their ideas for plants that could support future space exploration.
Choose a plant, investigate its potential benefits and challenges, and explain why you think it deserves a place in a future space habitat.
New Zealand submission deadline: 22 October 2026.
Considering the dietary needs of astronauts living in space environments such as a spacecraft (assuming a microgravity environment), the Moon or Mars, think about what kinds of plants should be cultivated.
Propose plants that are beneficial not only from a nutritional perspective but also from a QOL perspective, including their contribution to astronauts’ daily living and well-being.
Participants must be students at the time of the wrap-up session (around March 2027):
Elementary school students to university students (including doctoral students)
Participants must select a plant and explain the reasons for their choice.
We call for participation in the following two categories:
You could represent New Zealand and share your idea at an international JAXA programme event.
NZAN will review New Zealand entries and nominate one outstanding proposal from each of the two What to Grow categories: the Pre-High-School Division and the Senior Student Division.
If your proposal is selected, you or your team will present your idea in English at the international Wrap-Up Session in March 2027, alongside participants nominated by other countries.
You can take part online. Selected participants who wish to attend in person can participate from JAXA’s Tsukuba Space Center in Japan. This is not a promise of funded travel.
Outstanding ideas may also be considered as candidates for future space experiments — although selection does not guarantee that your plant will be grown in space.
What would you grow on the Moon or Mars? Make your case — and you could take your idea to an international audience.
Teachers and mentors can find entry guidelines, proposal templates and programme updates in our Space Harvest Google Classroom.
For submission enquiries or help accessing the resources, email the New Zealand Astrobiology Network at info@astrobiology.nz.
Submit your proposal to info@astrobiology.nz
Joining Google Classroom is optional and is not required to enter.
Kökihi (Tetragonia tetragonioides), commonly called New Zealand spinach, is an edible plant indigenous to Aotearoa. It grows in challenging coastal environments and can tolerate salty conditions and water stress.
Could a plant adapted to our unique environment be useful in space?
What might it teach us about growing food on the Moon or Mars?
Growing food away from Earth is a real scientific and engineering challenge.
Fresh plants provide nutrition, but they also bring colour, smell, flavour and a connection to home. The Space Harvest Ideathon brings together biology, chemistry, environmental science, agriculture, engineering, space science and human wellbeing – in other words, astrobiology.
The Space Harvest Ideathon is an international educational programme organised through Space Seeds for Asian Future (SSAF) within the Kibo-ABC Initiative.
The New Zealand Astrobiology Network (NZAN) is the participating organisation coordinating the Space Harvest Ideathon in New Zealand.
