Turkish space traveler continues to do groundbreaking scientific research

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - The first Turkish space traveler, Alper Gezeravci, continues to do groundbreaking scientific research on the International Space Station.

The Turkish Space Agency said on X on Tuesday that he is conducting an experiment on CRISPR-Gem gene editing.

The research, developed by Türkiye's Yildiz University, seeks to investigate the effectiveness of CRISPR gene editing on plants in a microgravity environment in order to understand and improve the defense mechanisms of plants, which are the skeleton of bioregenerative life support systems meant to provide a sustainable system in long-term space missions, one of the chief hurdles for the future of humanity in space.

The Ax-3 mission, with Gezeravci on board, launched late last week from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida on a Falcon 9 rocket of private space company SpaceX, and later docked with the International Space Station.

The four-person team will do more than 30 scientific experiments during their two-week stay, with Gezeravci responsible for 13 of them, or nearly half.

On Monday, Gezeravci did the first experiment on his list, named Extremophyte, which aims to reveal the transcriptome by next-generation sequencing in plants grown in space and on earth.

He is also set to do another experiment, named UzMAn, developed by Istanbul’Bogazici University to seek to carry out growth and endurance tests of microalgae species adapted to harsh earthly conditions under non-gravity conditions, to examine their metabolic changes, determine their carbon dioxide capture performance and oxygen production capabilities, and develop a life support system.