Micro-Lada
Micro-Lada is a classroom version of Lada, a vegetation chamber created to
provide a "space garden" for astronauts during their long flights.
Named for the ancient Russian goddess of spring, Lada resides on the Russian
segment of the International Space Station (ISS). Since its launch in 2002,
Lada has produced a harvest of fresh vegetables, providing cosmonauts with nutritional
supplements and therapeutic recreational activity.
Utah State University's Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL) collaborated with the
Russian Institute of Biomedical Problems to develop Lada. The information collected
by Lada and SDL's other space agriculture experiments will be vital for the
future design of long-term space missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
SDL developed Micro-Lada to help teachers and students learn more about plant
growth and considerations in a micro-gravity environment. Working with Micro-Lada,
students can explore challenges such as watering plants without gravity and
optimizing light for plant growth.
Lada aboard the ISS |
International Space Station |
Participants
Japan
Russia
| Moscow, Russia |
(EEC MCPCYC) |
United States
| Sterling,
Alaska |
|
| Cocoa, Florida |
|
| Pocatello, Idaho |
|
| Pocatello, Idaho |
Plant growth data 2007
(PDF 236 KB) |
| Bountiful, Utah |
|
| Bountiful, Utah |
|
| Farmington, Utah |
Watch our plants grow! (webcam data) |
| Farmington, Utah |
|
| Hyrum, Utah |
Plant growth data
2007 (PDF 13 KB)
|
| Layton, Utah |
Plant growth data
2007 (PDF 16 KB) |
| North Logan, Utah |
|
| Syracuse, Utah |
|
| Bristow, Virginia |
Plant growth data
2007 (PDF 379 KB)
Making contact with
the ISS (Windows Media® 33 MB) |
 |
Davis School District and
Adams Elementary are sponsored by
|
|
Online Forum