McKenzie seeds in space

WINCHESTER – Jeff Arsenault is reaching for the stars in his bid to inspire a love of gardening in the hearts of elementary students.

The educational assistant at Winchester Public School is coordinating an initiative that will send 5,000 mimosa seeds into space as part of Project Greenman, a multi-project program designed to inspire an interest in gardening among school children. The seeds will ride out of the earth’s atmosphere on one of the first commercial flights taken by Virgin Galactic – a commercial space travel venture backed by British billionaire Sir Richard Branson. While no firm schedule has been set, test pilot and X-Prize winner Brian Binnie has agreed to take the seeds on one of his first flights as part of the venture. The Project Greenman Seeds in Space initiative will give area students the chance to study whether exposure to a zero-gravity environment will affect the seeds’ ability to grow. The seed pack will be donated by McKenzie Seeds, one of the project sponsors.

Once the seeds return from their flight into space, they will be distributed to students at Winchester Public School, Morrisburg Public School and other schools across North America. The students will plant them as part of a multi-school science project to see if space flight affects their growth.

This is an important scientific question because NASA has looked at the possibility of transporting seeds to places such as Mars as part of long-term plans to send expeditions to other planets.

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