Expanding frontiers: harnessing plant biology for space exploration and planetary sustainability
Plants are critical for sustaining human life and planetary health. However, their potential to enable humans to survive and thrive beyond Earth remains unrealized. This Viewpoint presents a collective vision outlining priorities associated with plant science to support a new frontier of human existence. These priorities are drawn from the International Space Life Sciences Working Group (ISLSWG) Plants for Space Exploration and Earth Applications workshop, held at the European Low Gravity Research Association (ELGRA) conference in September 2024. First, we highlight transformative advances gained from using the 'laboratory of space' in understanding how plants respond to gravity and other stressors. Second, we introduce a new crop Bioregenerative Life Support System (BLSS) readiness level (BRL) framework - extending the existing Crop Readiness Level (CRL) - to assist in overcoming challenges to establish resilient, sustainable crop production. Materializing the vision of plants as enablers of space exploration will require innovative approaches, including predictive modeling, synthetic biology, robust Earth-based analogue systems, and reliable space-based instruments to monitor biological processes. Success relies upon a unified international community to promote sharing of resources, facilities, expertise, and data to accelerate progress. Ultimately, this work will both advance human space exploration and provide solutions to enhance sustainable plant production on Earth.
Authors
- Luke Fountain (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8438-1036)
- Rebecca L. Brocato (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4377-0710)
- Nicol Caplin
- Marta Del Bianco (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0062-5604)
- Giovanni Sena (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3626-5038)
- Valérie Legué (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2090-9580)
- Paola Castaño (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0093-1206)
- Imara Y. Perera (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9421-1420)
- Sarah E. Wyatt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7874-0509)
- Raúl Herranz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0246-9449)
- Sigfredo Fuentes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0377-5085)
- Suruchi Roychoudhry (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9736-0269)
- Dorothy E. Shippen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0562-2047)
- Maik Böhmer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6675-273X)
- Gioia D. Massa
- Anjali S. Iyer‐Pascuzzi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5356-4350)
- Matthew Gilliham (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0666-3078)
- Chiara Amitrano (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1864-5221)
- James P. B. Lloyd (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4492-1368)
- Lucie Poulet (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3659-224X)
- Karl H. Hasenstein (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4653-1678)
- Markus Braun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4599-3275)
- Veronica De Micco (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4282-9525)
- Simon Gilroy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9597-6839)
- Jess M. Bunchek (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9841-6634)
- Elison B. Blancaflor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6115-9670)
- John Z. Kiss (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1326-127X)
- Alexander Meyers (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4681-7855)
- Richard Barker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5681-9857)
- Nicholas J. B. Brereton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2434-3249)
- Lynn Harrison (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8808-1703)
- Mélanie Decourteix (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4485-5065)
- Jens Hauslage (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2184-7000)
- Nafiou Arouna (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2231-9990)
- Colleen J. Doherty (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1126-5592)
- Massimo Emilio Maffei (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6814-2353)
- Emma Canaday (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-7445-6786)
- Hideyuki Takahashi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7817-6258)
- C. Page Chamberlain
- Michel Fabien Franke (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7722-7946)
- Kirima Junya
- Jared Stoochnoff (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-1495-058X)
- Dylan Shun Izuma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0503-1802)
Institutions
- University College Dublin (IE)
- Florida Institute of Technology (US)
- Goethe University Frankfurt (DE)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Space Science Institute (US)
- Mission Health (US)
- University of Leeds (GB)
- Australian Research Council (AU)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- North Carolina State University (US)
- Chiba University (JP)
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- Purdue University West Lafayette (US)
- University of Exeter (GB)
- Kennedy Space Center (US)
- Canadian Space Agency (CA)
- Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (IT)
- Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (DE)
- European Space Agency (FR)
- Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (DLR) (DE)
- Department of Space (IN)
- Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR)
- University of Clermont Auvergne (FR)
- Ohio University (US)
- Institute of Agricultural Biology and Biotechnology (IT)
- Sigma Clermont (FR)
- Clermont Université (FR)
- Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas Margarita Salas (ES)
- Johnson Space Center (US)
- National Research Council (IT)
- Department of Agricultural Sciences (RU)
- Deleted Institution
- European Space Research and Technology Centre (NL)
- Imperial College London (GB)
- University of Turin (IT)
- University of Louisiana at Lafayette (US)
- Los Angeles Mission College (US)
- Texas A&M University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- New Phytologist
- Published
- 2025-11-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70662
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Plant Molecular Biology Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.75
Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Oak Ridge Associated Universities
- UK Space Agency
- UK Research and Innovation
- Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales
- Kennedy Space Center
- Science and Technology Facilities Council
- Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency