HELENA — There may be 140 million miles between our home and Mars, but CR Anderson Middle School biology students are bringing the red planet and the International Space Station into their classroom.
Megan Lane, a seventh-grade biology teacher at CR Anderson, says, "Our students are actively contributing to NASA research and what they find actually drives forward choices they make on the International Space Station and for the Artemis program."
Lane's class received a growth chamber from the Growing Beyond Earth Program, a partnership between Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden and NASA scientists.
The chamber mimics conditions of the International Space Station.
Mrs. Lane's class has one of just 400 chambers in the world.
"Obviously, if we are going to have people traveling to Mars and working on Mars, we need to have sustainable food for them," Lane says.
First semester students grew romaine lettuce in the chamber as a control plant because of its success in other chambers.
Spinach and bunch onions were grown alongside the lettuce to see if they would succeed.
This semester, students are growing something brand new with the lettuce.
"So this semester, what my students chose to do was look at native Montana plants with the idea that our plants have to be hearty, cold-tolerant, and drought-resistant," Lane says.
For students like Brayden Levang, knowing they are helping NASA with future space science is exciting.
"NASA scientists can use our evidence for the International Space Station and also grow Montana native plants," Levang said.
The class researched fifteen Montana plants and came to a consensus on which is thriving in the space chamber now.
That decision was made by the class, including student Ava Wilson, "I really like the wild strawberries because like when I was doing the data. I saw that they were almost like a perfect match to grow in space."
Mrs. Lane's class will be presenting their plants and findings to a panel of NASA scientists on April 12.
