My people will eat more space products

Corn, wheat, green peppers, cucumbers, and the food and vegetables we usually eat may all be bred from the seeds returned from space. The “Aerospace Engineering Breeding Forum 2011” recently held by the reporter was informed that at present, China has a total of 393 strains of nine major categories of crops that have been carried by space, and has successfully selected and passed more than 70 new varieties certified by the national or provincial level. During the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” period, the Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation will undertake the mission of launching hundreds of satellites (spacecrafts, detectors), which will greatly accelerate the development of space breeding in China.

It is understood that since August 5, 1987, China has used the 9th return-type scientific test satellite for the first time successfully carrying out experiments on crop seeds such as rice and green peppers. Since then, China has used 15 return satellites and 7 Shenzhou spacecraft. Thousands of crop seeds, tube seedlings, biological strains and materials were carried and a large number of new varieties were obtained. The total planting area was nearly 20 million mu.