Science teacher Joseph Rogalski recently worked with NASA as part of his AP Environmental Science Class to make a grow chamber that can hopefully be used when people eventually go to Mars.

“We were growing radishes. The idea was that as we go off into space, we will need to feed our astronauts, and sending food is problematic. So if we sent seeds, it would be much easier payload-wise. NASA is trying to figure out what vegetables grow the best in different environments, so this year was radishes. We were one of only a few schools across the world that was selected for this program,” Rogalski said.

Rogalski was sent all the necessary materials in order for students to build the device as well as special soil that will actually be used by astronauts on the moon and Mars. He followed a guide in order to make sure the experiment had viable results.

“The contraption was sent to us by Mars Farms. It’s like a $500 setup that we got for free. I had the students build it, and they sent us special soil that they would have on the moon or Mars. They sent us seeds and some instructions. We had to measure the exact humidity and exact amount of water and send the measurements to NASA,” Rogalski said.

This isn’t the first year NASA has asked schools to try and grow plants in conditions similar to space, but it is the first year that Grayslake North has been accepted into the program, and the plan is to continue to do it for as long as it is available.

“In the past few years, they’ve done things like Bok Choy and other plants that they want to try and see if they grow in space. Now that we have been accepted into the program, my intention is to keep doing it as long as they are having it, “ Rogalski said.

NASA is compiling data to determine which vegetable grows best in space and chose North as one of the very few schools to be able to take part in the study.