Growing Tomatoes in Space
On December 3, 2018, a Falcon 9 launch vehicle from SpaceX left the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and launched the Eu:CROPIS (Euglena Combined Regenerative Organic-food Production In Space) satellite into orbit. The mission of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V., DLR) is simulating the gravity conditions on the moon and Mars by means of rotation. Using tomato plants, the researchers hope to investigate plant growth under these conditions. The ultimate goal is to develop greenhouses that could provide fresh food for the crew on a lunar or Mars mission.
DLR used a dSPACE Simulator to test the satellite's attitude and orbit control system.