---
title: "New NASA Contest Seeks Way to Grow a Space Garden"
description: "NASA just put out an official call for help: the space agency wants people to figure out how to grow gardens and crops in outer space. The so-called “Growing Beyond Earth” contest is now open for submissions. The challenge is to come up with a design for a “3D growing space” that fits […]"
date: "2019-06-28"
modified: "2019-06-28"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-contest-garden-space"
categories:
  - "NASA"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "agriculture"
  - "NASA"
  - "space"
  - "the digest"
---

# New NASA Contest Seeks Way to Grow a Space Garden

![NASA announced a new contest in which contestants are asked to come up with a design for a space garden capable of growing crops.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/nasa-contest-garden-space.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Space Garden

NASA needs your help figuring out how to grow gardens and crops in outer space.

To that end, the space agency's so-called "[Growing Beyond Earth](<https://www.instructables.com/contest/beyondEarth/>)" contest is now open for submissions. The challenge is to come up with a design for a "3D growing space" that fits within a 50-centimeter cube and can help supply astronauts on future missions into space with fresh fruits and vegetables.

## Step One

According to a *South Florida Sun Sentinel* [story](<https://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/fl-et-nasa-competition-grow-edible-plants-on-space-station-20190625-jvccgcgmcrf4fkfkjdcap6bnya-story.html>), NASA and its partner organization, the Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden, broke the space garden contest down into three categories: high school, college, and professional.

Contest organizers will select a winner from each category after the Valentine's Day 2020 deadline for designs. At that point, each winning group will build a prototype of their space garden for a final competition.

## Early Days

Plenty of plants have already been grown in space, [including crop plants](<https://futurism.com/astronauts-on-the-international-space-station-will-eat-food-they-grew-themselves-in-space>) such as lettuce.

But reliably and efficiently growing crops in space, where plants aren't bound by gravity but will still stretch outward toward a light source, still remains a challenge ripe for new solutions.

**READ MORE:** [NASA needs your help: Do you know how to grow plants in space?](<https://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/fl-et-nasa-competition-grow-edible-plants-on-space-station-20190625-jvccgcgmcrf4fkfkjdcap6bnya-story.html>) \[*South Florida Sun Sentinel*\]

**More on space plants:** *[Astronauts on the International Space Station Eat Food They Grew Themselves in Space](<https://futurism.com/astronauts-on-the-international-space-station-will-eat-food-they-grew-themselves-in-space>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)