The plant chamber for growing sweet basil on the ISS for the AHiS Mission
The Plant Chamber is a polycarbonate rectangular container, 7.5 cm in length and width and 11.0 cm in height. It is transparent from all directions and suitable for making observations.
Each chamber has 5 air ventilation holes, of 1 cm in diameter, to which we attach gas-permeable membranes.
Watering is done through the a water injection port at the bottom side, with a syringe.
We chose rock wool as a growth medium for the plants instead of soil because it has good water retention.
The rock-wool was sowed with 16 grains of sweet basil seeds and inserted in the Plant Chamber.
The experiment on the International Space Station started on
February 16, 2021 (Day 0: Start of experiment)
Set up operation by Astronaut Soichi NOGUCHI (Credit: JAXA/NASA)
Video: Set up of the operation by JAXA Astronaut Soichi NOGUCHI
Ground support crew for AHiS, (Credit: JAXA)
