Brazilian researchers are engineering so-called "superplants" — crops with improved yield, nutritional value, and water efficiency — designed to feed astronauts on future space missions while also addressing food security challenges on Earth caused by climate change. The initiative, called Rede Space Farming Brazil, is led by Embrapa (Brazil's national agricultural research agency) alongside 22 institutions, and forms part of the broader NASA-led Artemis programme, which now counts 56 signatory nations. Sweet potato and chickpea were selected for initial tests due to their low water and heat requirements, with seeds already sent to microgravity conditions aboard a Blue Origin rocket; researchers say the genetic adaptations developed for space environments could prove equally valuable for cultivating food in arid or degraded terrestrial land in the coming decades.