Living in Space
Integral Understanding of life-regulation mechanism from "SPACE"

Effectiveness of Artificial Gravity with Exercise on Spaceflight Deconditioning in Humans – Publicly Invited Research 2016－2017

1. A01 Akiyama
2. A01 Ochi
3. A01 Chatani
4. A01 Seiki
5. A01 Nikawa
6. A01 Kawakami
7. A01 Tomita
8. A01 Honda

1. A02 Shinohara
2. A02 Maekawa
3. A02 Ohgami
4. A02 Nishimura
5. A02 Kawano
6. A02 Iwase
7. A02 Furuichi
8. A02 Myung
9. A02 Kitamura

1. A03 Nakamura
2. A03 Harada
3. A03 Ide
4. A03 Shirai
5. A03 Kakinuma

1. B01 Lazarus
2. B01 Miwa
3. B01 Kunieda
4. B01 Shimada
5. B01 Kitaya
6. B01 Sawano

Research Subject	Investigation of core technology for the food production in closed space under microgravity
Research Group Leader	Takuya Furuichi Associate Professor, Graduate School of Human Life Sciences, Nagoya University of Economics Website http://
Research Collaborator(s)	Masanori Tamaoki Principal Researcher, Center for Environmental Biology and Ecosystem, National Institute for Environmental Studies Hajime Tomimatsu Researcher, Center for Environmental Biology and Ecosystem, National Institute for Environmental Studies Sachiko Yano Senior Researcher, JAXA Hidetoshi Iida Professor Emeritus, CREST Molecular Biology Laboratory, Tokyo Gakugei University

Our life is primarily supported by the food, and sustainable plant growth is a key component to accomplish long-termed manned mission in the space. To the Mars, it will take more than 300 days to go, and each astronauts consume at least 1.5 kg of foods per day. Thus, our demands on "Space Agriculture" are increasing. Recent plant science studies in international space station (ISS), including VEGGIE project that grown Lactica sp., revealed that environments in ISS, micro-gravity, cosmic ray and extremely high CO2 around 3000 to 7000 ppm in the closed space, obviously affect plant growth and developments. In ISS, spindly growth and less fertility, leading lesser productivity were often observed in many kinds of specimens. Thus, affects of "space stresses" should precisely studied to clarify the underlying molecular mechanisms, and practical application of overcoming techniques to incarnate sustainable food production are waiting. Importantly, techniques and devices to farm cultivars in spacecraft, perfectly closed environment, could be very useful to develop plant industries, especially in the polluted area on the earth as well. When plants are exposed to the changes in direction and/or intensity of gravity, transient increase in cytoplasmic Ca²⁺ concentration, Ca²⁺-signal, is immediately observed. Thus, Ca²⁺-signal, is supposed to play central roles in plant gravity sensing. Furthermore, Ca²⁺-uptake is inevitable for seed germination and the following healthy growth.
In this project, we are trying to identify;
1) Gravity Sensory systems
to promote gravi-resistance that regulating the thickness of inflorescent stem
2) Effects of extremely high CO₂
on plant germination and development those reducing productivity

Then, practical application of overcoming techniques to incarnate sustainable food production will be proposed.