Emma the Space Gardener 🌿🚀

I'm Emma (she/they), and I am mad keen on the idea of growing plants in space, so that's mostly what I talk about - #plants and #space. I also like mission patches, space food and #gardening on Earth. I'm the producer & host of a podcast called Gardeners of the Galaxy.

I am a human and happy to chat, so if you’ve got a question about plants in space, please do ask!

Space Botany Blog: https://spacebotany.uk/about/
GotG Podcast: https://gardenersofthegalaxy.podbean.com
Mission Report Newsletter: https://emmadoughty.substack.com/

Last Notes

2026-09-04 08:04:28 UTC

My latest round-up of stories from the world of space plants and gardening incudes safe-to-eat space crops, gardening in the Arctic, nitrogen uptake in space and cookies made from plastic and plant waste!
https://spacebotany.uk/blog/mission-report-3-september-2026/
#SpacePlants #astrobotany #SpaceFood

2025-11-28 10:18:06 UTC

Mould found at the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster appears to be feeding off the radiation. Could we use it to shield space travellers from cosmic rays?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/future/article/20251125-the-mysterious-black-fungus-from-chernobyl-that-appears-to-eat-radiation
#astrobiology #Chernobyl #fungi

2025-11-24 14:41:57 UTC

School pupils are trying to track down a teddy bear sent into the upper atmosphere for a science experiment.
Bradfield Bear was launched on a high-altitude weather balloon from Lymington, Hampshire, two weeks ago by Year 7 and 8 students at Walhampton School & the Southampton University Spaceflight Society.
The little bear reached the stratosphere but then broke off from the balloon, and it is believed to have landed somewhere near Henley-on-Thames or Reading.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crrk54n9qz4o

2025-11-22 14:34:53 UTC

On the space moss story, I have seen inaccurate headlines ranging from "Moss grows in space" through to "Moss spores fail to survive space exposure, casting doubt on their use in space exploration".
So, with a slight air of exasperation, I have written my own article:
https://spacebotany.uk/blog/moss-survives-space-media-loses-plot/
#astrobotany #SpacePlants #mosstodon

2025-02-14 07:56:51 UTC

I look at what's happening in the world, and feel like there's not much I can do.
But I can do this, so I am starting a series of posts on women in astrobotany. I'll add to it whenever I can.
This photo, taken on 10 March 2017, shows Dr Anna-Lisa Paul of the Florida Space Plants Lab working on the Advanced Plant Experiment-4 (APEX-4) in the Telescience Support Center at NASA Glenn. More details on the website.
https://spacebotany.uk/blog/wis-anna-lisa-paul-with-apex-4/
#WomenInSTEM
https://cdn.masto.host/spaceyspace/media_attachments/files/114/001/165/902/962/060/original/208b2ebef5b4f9f1.jpg

2024-12-23 09:47:53 UTC

India's upcoming POEMS-4 mission will launch two plant experiments into orbit.
#astrobotany #SpacePlants #ISRO
https://theunconventionalgardener.com/blog/plants-launching-on-indias-poem-4-mission/

2024-12-03 09:59:55 UTC

This week on the blog, I've got the story of some Swedish seaweed shoots (try saying that 3 times quickly!) that went into space, and the unusual reason why. (For one it has nothing to do with life support!)
#astrobotany #SpacePlants
https://theunconventionalgardener.com/blog/swedish-seaweed-shoots-into-space/

2024-11-26 15:44:18 UTC

Ooh, this is cool.
https://www.esa.int/esatv/Videos/2024/11/Space_Rider_drone_inspection

2024-11-09 04:11:12 UTC

Launched in 1969, just a few months after humans first set foot on the Moon, Skynet-1A was put high above Africa's east coast to relay communications for British forces.
When the spacecraft ceased working a few years later, gravity might have been expected to pull it even further to the east, out over the Indian Ocean.
But today, curiously, Skynet-1A is actually half a planet away, in a position 22,369 miles (36,000km) above the Americas.
#SpaceDebris
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpwrr58801yo

2024-11-08 07:06:48 UTC

Today, already, I have learned that:
🌲 The Russian Luna 2 spacecraft that impacted the Moon used balsa wood as an impact absorption technique.
🌲 WISA WOODSAT is a CubeSat made from birch plywood. Had it launched as planned in 2022, it would have been the world's first wooden satellite.
📏 There are satellites (including WISA WOODSAT) that use metal tape measures as antennas!
Mind blown, and I haven't even had my breakfast yet!
#space #satellites #wood

2024-11-05 09:59:10 UTC

The world's first wooden satellite, built by Japanese researchers, is heading to the ISS in an early test for using timber in lunar and Mars exploration.
LignoSat, developed by Kyoto University and homebuilder Sumitomo Forestry, launched on SpaceX CRS-31 and will be released to orbit about 400 km (250 miles) above the earth in the coming weeks.
#SpaceDebris #astrobotany #CubeSat #SpacePlants
https://theunconventionalgardener.com/blog/from-forest-to-orbit-worlds-first-wooden-satellite-launched-for-space-durability-testing/

2024-10-30 11:59:14 UTC

Just in time for Halloween, the latest edition of the Gardeners of the Galaxy Mission Report has cockroaches in space, upcoming astrobotany experiments, a Plants For Space media day and a Selenar Fungi update.
My free weekly newsletter covers topics related to growing plants in space, and you can read online or subscribe to have it delivered directly to your inbox.
https://emmadoughty.substack.com/p/gardeners-of-the-galaxy-mission-report-d8a
#SpacePlants #astrobotany #gardening #botany #ethnobotany

2024-10-15 08:52:19 UTC

In 2025, SCAMPI - a student-led project at The Spring Institute for Forests on the Moon - will send Hawaiian red shrimp, macroalgae, and microbes to the International Space Station (ISS) in a self-sustaining ecosphere to better understand how aquatic ecosystems behave in microgravity.
As manufacturing and testing are not cheap - they need our help!
https://www.gofundme.com/f/project-scampi-help-us-send-shrimp-to-space

2024-09-03 15:13:45 UTC

- reply

Itsy witsy, teeny weeny SPACE tomatoes
😂
https://cdn.masto.host/spaceyspace/media_attachments/files/113/074/265/048/190/172/original/1e8d45e72c4b75d1.png

2024-09-03 14:52:39 UTC

Want to know about the plants flying on Polaris Dawn, the new astronaut astrobotanist, and teeny weeny space tomatoes? Read the Gardeners of the Galaxy Mission Report, a free weekly newsletter covering topics related to growing plants in space.
You can read online or subscribe to have it delivered directly to your inbox.
https://emmadoughty.substack.com/p/gardeners-of-the-galaxy-mission-report-067
#SpacePlants #astrobotany #gardening #botany #ethnobotany

2024-08-20 09:05:13 UTC

Can I tell you a little secret about my Gardeners of the Galaxy newsletter?
Yes, it's about astrobotany - growing plants in space. But it also has general space news, and some really cool Earth botany/ethnobotany as well!
Subscribe now if you want today's edition to hit your inbox later on: https://emmadoughty.substack.com
#SpacePlants #astrobotany #gardening #botany #ethnobotany #space

2024-08-04 15:37:59 UTC

APEX-09 is on its way to the ISS on NG-21, which just launched.
This latest experiments in the Advanced Plant EXperiments (APEX) series will grow two different grasses in the Veggie growing system, to compare their different styles (C3/C4) of photosynthesis in microgravity.
More on the blog tomorrow.