Canadian Space Agency to Grow Space Vegetables in Nunavut

The Canadian Space Agency hopes a four-year, $450,000 greenhouse project in the western Nunavut community of Gjoa Haven will point the way to growing vegetables for future space travellers, according to Nunatsiaq News.

Largely built on sand, with short, cloudy summers and dark, frigid winters, Gjoa Haven, home to about 1,500 people, is not known for its vegetation. But that is why the CSA said Gjoa Haven is a suitable test bed for future space food production systems.

There are a lot of similarities with the harsh and cold environments of outer space that can help show how to support astronauts in extreme weather, Matthew Bamsey, a senior engineer with the CSA’s program management, told the paper.