About SPACE2
Our team’s grand vision for SPACE² is "the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will grow the first acre of plants on the surface of the Moon and Mars". UNL would like to bring the Green Revolution Moment to Mars by researching ways to create circular agriculture on the red planet. With this vision, our team anticipates that, in the next half century, UNL will lead the nation in developing a transdisciplinary, signature academic program in Space Ag. The program will be an epicenter of cutting-edge research in Space Ag, fostering world-renowned scholars, vibrant teaching and outreach activities, and far-reaching impacts on the humanities and society.
Why UNL
- UNL is strategically well-positioned to lead the Space Ag enterprise in the nation. Agriculture is a leading industry in Nebraska with millions of acres of corn and soybeans. The vision and concept of “farming on Mars” will engage Nebraska citizens and excite and motivate our younger generation farmers.
- UNL already has strong research bases in many disciplines essential for Space Ag, including plant genetics and biochemistry, controlled environment agriculture and robotics, space law, science literacy, food science and technology to just mention a few.
In the News
Ehsan Fazayeli’s Space Agriculture Review Featured as Cover Article
Selected as the Cover Article of Issue 24, Volume 15 (2025), this paper examines space agriculture as the ultimate testbed for AI-driven agricultural systems. Growing food beyond Earth forces AI, biology, robotics, and closed-loop systems to work together under extreme constraints where efficiency is critical and failure is not an option.
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Ehsan Fazayeli Publishes Landmark Review on Space Agriculture
Ehssan Fazayeli and co-authors have published a comprehensive systems-level review titled “Space Agriculture: A Comprehensive Systems-Level Review of Challenges and Opportunities” in the journal Agriculture. The paper explores how AI, biology, robotics, and closed-loop systems must work together under extreme constraints to enable sustainable food production beyond Earth.
UNL Space Agriculture Research Featured on U.S. Farm Report
Research from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s MAARS Lab was featured on U.S. Farm Report in a segment exploring agriculture in space. The story highlighted sensor-driven, automated systems being developed to support food production in extreme and controlled environments, including robotic irrigation, plant habitat automation, and non-destructive crop monitoring advancing the future of space-based agriculture.
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UNL Receives Rare “Moon Tree” from NASA’s Artemis Mission
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln is home to a unique Sweetgum “Moon Tree,” grown from seeds that traveled beyond the Moon during NASA’s Artemis mission. Selected through a NASA program in collaboration with the MAARS Lab and Ag4Space partners, the tree is planted on UNL’s East Campus and stands as a living symbol of space exploration, science, and agriculture.
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UNL Hosts Successful Inaugural Ag4Space Symposium
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Biological Systems Engineering faculty hosted a productive inaugural Ag4Space Symposium, bringing together participants from academia, industry, and government to discuss the future of agriculture in space. The event highlighted emerging collaborations and helped shape a roadmap for advancing space agriculture through public–private partnerships.
Save the Date: UNL Ag4Space Symposium on Agriculture in Space
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Biological Systems Engineering faculty announced the Ag4Space Symposium, focused on agriculture and food production for space exploration and extreme environments on Earth. Supported by UNL’s Grand Challenges Initiative, the event brings together experts from government, academia, and industry to explore space agriculture, astro-plant biology, and resource-limited production systems.
Huskers aim to launch first center for space agriculture
It’s little wonder that so much of the early research into space exploration would orbit around escaping gravity’s grip, or that the source of that escape, the rocket, would occupy so many minds with the cosmic ambition to match their intellect.
UNL graduate students team up with LPS, DMS to “Plant the Moon”
Cassie Palmer and Ehsan Fazayeli have been meeting regularly with Dawes and Lincoln Northeast High School to share a hands-on version of science. It’s part of the Plant the Moon Challenge, a program from the Institute of Competition Sciences in collaboration with NASA. The overarching goal connects with NASA’s Artemis program, which intends to get humans back on the Moon for the first time since the 1970s.
Dr. Wheeler of NASA visits BSE department
On April 26, Raymond Wheeler visited the BSE department and shared his findings on agriculture for human life support in space. Dr. Wheeler is a NASA plant physiologist and senior scientist.
He presented on a wide range of topics including bioregenerative life support on the moon and Mars, crop considerations for space, ISS plant facilities and more.
Space² team presents at 2023 Water for Food conference
On May 10, Yufeng Ge and Santosh Pitla presented a session titled "Simulation and Speculation for Earthly Survival" at the 2023 Water for Food Global Conference, presented by the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute. The purpose of the panel was to explore art-science collaborative research and rethink the role of speculative design and storytelling in the scientific research and engineering.
Dr. Ge and Dr. Pitla shared the Space² team's vision of bringing the green revolution to the Moon and Mars by researching ways to create circular agriculture in space. Other presenters on the team were Ash Eliza Smith, Robert Twomey and Elsbeth Magilton.
