Zero-waste plants optimised for controlled environments
The focus of this mission is on fast-growing, zero-waste, ‘pick & eat’ plant varieties that exceed current on-Earth performance. Plants will be ‘re-engineered’ to be able to remove redundant energy-intensive processes to accelerate growth; enhance nutrient and water use-efficiency; optimise salt tolerance; and create a use for all plant parts.
The use of digital and physical twins of our plant and food production systems will assist in fully integrating environmental constraints with resource requirements. Simulation of Space conditions on Earth will allow iterative calibration of plant and product design, and the development of new experimental platforms in Space.
Complete nutrition plant-based foods
This mission aims for the development of ‘complete nutrition’ plants that humans could survive on for a year without sacrificing health. Our focus will be on optimising concentrations of all essential macro- and micro-nutrients in a minimal suite of plants that can be processed into appealing food forms to fulfil nutritional needs.
A key element to our success will be a parallel focus on smart food structuring to create variety in texture, flavour, and aroma; these food products can be tested for palatability, digestibility, and sensory appeal using cutting-edge biometric analyses and machine learning.
This suite of approaches will allow us to tailor plant-based food products for consumers with specific digestive, nutritional, or psychological needs.
On-demand bioresource production
Using smart plants that operate as programmable biological factories, this mission focuses on achieving robust and rapid biomolecule synthesis. Innovations in this mission encompass the development of new technology platforms for on-demand or large-scale production of novel, recyclable biomolecules, including plant-based construction materials and pharmaceuticals, that can be processed with minimal energy, resources, and waste.
Furthermore, this mission includes the sustainable processing of these biomolecules into usable products, employing integrated tools for prediction and assessment of food taste and digestibility. Our depth of processing, sensory, psychological, and nutritional expertise enables key technological innovations to deliver nutritious plant-based foods and sustainable processing of plant-generated flavours, pharmaceuticals, and plastics.
Future-ready workforce and society
This mission emphasises the impact of our research on society and includes the anticipatory and responsive legal, regulatory, ethical, and psychological frameworks to determine and refine process design to facilitate successful outcomes. A key element will be to dissect the complexity of human responses to extreme and constrained environments, to ensure that the novel process design is both compliant with legal standards and capable of situational evolution.
Furthermore, P4S aims to support its teams by including evidence-based training, leadership, and mentoring framework to inspire and equip staff, students, and stakeholders at scale. Finally, we aim to provide an industry-ready translation pipeline integrating and informing outputs across P4S research, including co-design between academia, government, industry, and start-ups to provide major sector uplift. Our advocacy will strengthen research and linkages, create synergies, and maximise efficiency of global effort, leading to creation and leadership of a single global Space plant research community, as well as informing the public through outreach and engagement for students and the broader community.