As chickpeas are successfully grown in space, could Moon hummus be next on the menu?

The majority of the 28 seeds sent to the International Space Station germinated

Nearly all 28 of the chickpea seeds germinated on the International Space Station. Photo: Space Hummus team

Latest results show that the ones on the space station grew slightly faster than the ones planted on Earth as a controlled experiment. Photo: Space Hummus team

Israeli researchers are leading the ‘Space Hummus’ experiment, in which 28 chickpea seeds were sent to the International Space Station aboard a Nasa cargo mission on February 19. Photo: Space Hummus

The chickpea seeds are growing inside a miniature greenhouse after being planted in a special nutrition-filled gel instead of soil. Photo: Space Hummus

Hummus is a protein-packed meal that uses very few ingredients. Astronauts eat dehydrated food stored inside packets. But by growing their own crops, they could add nutrition to their diets on long missions on the Moon. Photo: Simply Hummus

The space station already has a garden that researchers have been using for years to grow different kinds of plants. Photo: Nasa

Arabidopsis seeds, small flowering plants related to cabbage and mustard, grew for about six weeks on the International Space Station. Photo: Nasa

Nasa grows red Russian kale and dragoon lettuce on the space station. Photo: Nasa

Zinnia flowers were grown on the space station by Nasa researchers. Photo: Nasa

Israeli researchers have successfully grown chickpeas in space for the first time, raising the prospect of hummus on the menu for missions to the Moon.

The majority of the 28 chickpea seeds that were sent to the International Space Station earlier this month germinated, giving food for thought over the future nourishment of astronauts.

The latest results show that the ones on the space station grew slightly faster than the ones planted on Earth as part of a controlled experiment.

Called the Space Hummus experiment, it was also meant to test a miniature greenhouse that the legume crop is sprouting in.

The technology is working efficiently so far, with the crop growing in a special nutrition-filled gel instead of soil.

“We have private individuals that would like to land on the Moon and the obvious question is what are these astronauts going to eat? I think this is where the combination of faith engineering and biophysics can really propel us forward,” Yonatan Winetraub, co-founder of SpaceIL, the organisation behind Israel’s mission to the Moon, told The National when the experiment was first sent to space.

Yonatan Winetraub, co-founder of SpaceIL, the organisation behind Israel’s mission to the Moon, is leading the experiment. Photo: Space Hummus team

“The purpose of this particular experiment is a trial run of this greenhouse technology. What we want to do is grow those chickpeas in zero gravity in preparation of growing them on the Moon in a couple of years.”

Mr Weintraub is leading the experiment, along with scientists and engineers from Israel and Stanford University.

For now, astronauts eat dehydrated food that is stored in packets. Growing their own crops could add more nutrition to their diet if they go on long-duration missions to the Moon, and the process is more sustainable.

“Hummus is a great food with a highly efficient value. It is a good candidate for this experiment, but I also think that it combines cultures,” Mr Winetraub said.

“It is a type of food that is really common in the Middle East and throughout the world. I think it also has a really cool culture around it.”

So far, Nasa has grown three types of lettuce, Chinese cabbage, mizuna mustard, red Russian kale and zinnia flowers on the space station.

The chickpea crops will be sent back to Earth in June to allow Mr Winetraub and his team to measure the results.