Timac Agro Partners with CNES to Design Nutrients for Plant Growth in Extreme Environments

Next week, we will celebrate the 54th anniversary of the first steps of man on the Moon, but in a few years, we could well celebrate the first meals there. Those designed by astronauts after carrying out their first harvests on site. In any case, this is what Timac Agro is working on, in Saint Malo. On June 22, the company signed a partnership with CNES to design the best nutrients needed by plants in extreme environments. Europe 1 was able to visit the premises.

Algae nutrients to nourish plants

“It’s a culture chamber in which we can adapt the temperature and the light”, explains Sylvain Pluchon, research and development director at Timac Agro. Behind this heavy door opened by the leader, rows of plants are lined up under a yellowish light and large fans. Here, we simulate any climate on Earth. But soon, “we will produce tomatoes, peas, salad, exactly as we will do on the Moon and on Mars”, he assures the microphone of Europe 1.

This is the fundamental question of the long-term space conquest: how to ensure the food of the astronauts? The answer can be found in Saint-Malo, where marine algae nutrients are developed to nourish plants deprived of water and energy. It is with these molecules that astronauts will then be able to grow their own vegetables far from Earth. “We could very well have imagined that they come with their little capsules and that they feed only on that for several years. Except that the psychological impact of nutrition is recognized. The first job that we asked astronauts , is to be a farmer”, underlines Maylis Radonde, director of product development and communication at Timac Agro.

Before exporting it to the Moon and then to Mars, the process designed in Brittany has already proven its usefulness on Earth where the global warming forces us to find solutions to feed the world’s population.