Today we counted up how many tomato seeds germinated in our Tomatosphere experiments. Group L yielded 22 and Group M yielded 21. Since both groups were so similar, those results did not help us decide which group spent time in space. Next, we used a Geiger counter to see if there was any difference in the amount of radiation that the packages and the seedlings were giving out. The amount of radiation is very low but we noticed that in two minutes, Group L made the counter beep 39 times, and Group M beeped 53 times. Hmmmm..... students were sure that Group M were the space seeds. We will continue to observe how they develop as their true leaves come in. In the meantime, we entered our results into the website to add our data to the Canadian data base and we found out that: Which seeds are the "space" seeds? — Group M These seeds spent one month on the ISS in the winter of 2017. The seeds from group M were sent to the ISS during the SpaceX CRS-10 mission. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, carrying the Dragon spacecraft, launched on February 19, 2017 from the Kennedy Space Center.
The Dragon spacecraft safely delivered to the ISS nearly 5,500 lbs of cargo and supplies, including the Tomatosphere™ seeds, equipment for science experiments and supplies for the crew. The spacecraft returned safely to earth on the 19th of March 2017, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean six hours after it was released from the ISS. Thank you for your contribution to the field of space food science! For your information, the Tomatosphere™ seeds you received were all Heinz 9478 F1 seeds. This is a variety of plum tomato. The plant will produce mature fruit between 85 and 105 days, depending on growing conditions. This type of tomato is best used for juices, sauces and salsas. Let us know what you do with your #spacetomatoes by tagging us @Tomatosphere and @letstalkscience.
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Karen Cooper
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