As plans for extraterrestrial exploration shift from concept to infrastructure, researchers are beginning to address the finer details of off-world survival – like how to grow food in low-gravity, nutrient-poor environments. A new study suggests that Raman spectroscopy (RS) could play a vital role in monitoring the health of crops grown beyond Earth.
Published in npj Microgravity, the study outlines how RS was used to detect biochemical changes in Arabidopsis thaliana grown aboard the International Space Station and in three lunar regolith simulants on Earth. The handheld technique identified stress-related changes in carotenoids, phenylpropanoids, pectin, and cellulose – molecular signals linked with oxidative stress and cell wall adaptation.
Spectral analysis revealed that space-grown plants had elevated phenylpropanoid levels and lower carotenoid content compared to ground controls. “An increase in the intensity of this vibrational band indicates an increase in the concentration of low molecular weight phenylpropanoids,” the authors note, adding that the data align with previous evidence of spaceflight-induced stress responses.
On Earth, plants grown in lunar soil analogs – simulants of mare, highland, and south pole terrain – exhibited similar biochemical markers of stress. Increases in cellulose intensity suggested potential structural changes in response to poor substrate conditions. Notably, the metabolic signatures shifted with plant age, indicating that responses evolve over time.
To explore mitigation strategies, the researchers applied antioxidant treatments – glutathione, proline, ascorbic acid, and a combination of all three. Spectral data showed that the full cocktail was most effective, restoring carotenoid and cellulose levels to values approaching those of Earth-grown controls. These findings support earlier work showing improved growth and reduced genome oxidation in treated plants.
Unlike traditional lab methods such as HPLC or LC-MS, Raman spectroscopy is well-suited for deployment in space. It generates no chemical waste, requires no reagents, and provides rapid, label-free measurements. Using a handheld Resolve spectrometer with an 830 nm laser, the team collected leaf spectra with sufficient resolution to distinguish treatment effects. Partial least-squares discriminant analysis achieved over 90 percent classification accuracy for flight versus Earth-grown plants.
The authors conclude that RS offers a viable solution for real-time, non-destructive plant health monitoring in environments where conventional instrumentation is impractical.
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