Installing EMCS

The European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS) installed by ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter on the International Space Station in 2006. The facility nurtures plants from seedlings to maturity, and allows both astronauts and research teams on the ground to intervene and change the conditions.

Every aspect of the growing environment can be regulated – temperature, atmosphere, water and light – and two centrifuges simulate gravity up to twice Earth’s level to compare how plants respond to different degrees of gravity.