Space FarmingChallenges & Opportunities

O. Monje

Kennedy Space Center, FL 32899

IFT 2017, June 25 -28, Las Vegas, NV

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20170006144 2020-05-06T11:41:47+00:00Z

Earth = Our “Bioregenerative” Life Support System

Wheeler, 2016

On Earth, explorers ‘live off the land’• Crew = 33

• 2 years – elk hunting and fishing

• Learned food technology from native tribes

In space, explorers need in situ food production• Space Farming enables colonization of space

• Sustainable: minimize logistics of resupply

• Supplies: Light, CO2, O2, Nutrients, Water, Soil, Seeds, Plant chamber

• Crew Psychological well-being: green Earth

• Food Systems: palatable, nutritious and safe source of fresh food (limited shelf-life)

LADA

VEGGIE

Task: adapt 1g agriculture to fractional g locations

Opportunities: Commercial Uses of Cislunar Space

NASA – Prepares for missions to Mars

Human Exploration and Operations Exploration Objectives, 2016

Deep Space Gateway – crewed spaceport in lunar orbit – access lunar surface & deep space

Deep Space Transport – reusable vehicle to travel to Mars and return to the gateway

Commercial uses of Cislunar Space

BEAM – Bigelow Expandable Activity Module

ESA – Moon Village & Amazon Moon Deliveries

Space Farming = f ( Plant/Microbial Biology & Engineering )

Research Issues • Sensory mechanisms: Gravity sensing and response to mechanisms in cells, plants & microbes.

• Radiation effects on plants/microbes

• Plant/microbial growth under altered atmospheric pressures

• Spaceflight syndromes: Responses to integrated spaceflight environment, microbial ecosystems and environments, changes in virulence of pathogens.

• Food safety

• Plant – Microbe Interactions

Hardware Issues • Performance: Mitigate spaceflight syndromes for adequate plant growth

• Mass, power & volume restrictions

• Role in life support systems

CO2

H2O

O2

Radiation

Radiative

heat transfer

Buoyancy-driven

Convection – 1 g

CO2H2O

O2

Radiation

Radiative

heat transfer

Buoyancy-driven

Convection – 0 g

The absence of gravity induces physical effects that alter the microenvironment surrounding plants and their organs.

These effects include: increased boundary layers surrounding plant organs and the absence of convective mixing of atmospheric gases. In addition, altered behavior of liquids and gases is responsible for phase separation and for dominance of capillary forces in the absence of gravitational forces (moisture redistribution)

Space-Flight Environment

Monje et al. 2003 Jones and Or, 1998

Plant Growth Systems

Zabel et al. Life Sci. Space Res. (2016)

Light300 µmol/m2s

Low Light

APH

Salad Machine

Light600-1000 µmol/m2s

Veggie

Uni

vers

ities

Ames

Kennedy

Johnson

Small Companies

NASA’s Bioregenerative Life Support Testing

12

1980 1990 2000CELSS Program ALS / ELS Program

Algae Closed Systems Salad Machine

Wheat (Utah State)

Purdue

NSCORT

Potato (Wisconsin)

Lettuce (Purdue)

Soybean (NC State)

Sweetpotato / Peanut (Tuskegee)

Rutgers

NSCORT

Large, Closed System NFT Lighting Waste Recycling Salad spp. Habitat Testing

Solid Media Pressure Human / Integration

N-Nutrition (UC Davis)

Gas Ex./Ethylene (Utah State)

MIR Wheat (Utah St.)

STS-73

Potato

Leaves

BIO-PlexNever Completed

Biomass Production Chamber

Onion (Texas Tech)

Hypobaria (TAMU)

ISS Mizuna

Utah St./KSC

Lunar Greenhouse (Arizona)

2010LSHS Program

Purdue

NSCORT LEDs (Purdue)

Habitat Demo Unit

Plant Atrium (KSC)

Advanced

Plant

Habitat

ISS

ISS

Wheat

Expmt

SBIRs—Sensors, LEDs, Zeolite, BPS, VEGGIE, Aeroponics, Solar Conc., HELIAC

ISS VEGGIE

Lettuce (KSC)

2030

Recirculating Hydroponics with Crops– Record yields vs Field

Conserve Water & Nutrients

Eliminate Water Stress

Optimize Mineral Nutrition

Facilitate Harvesting

Will this work in partial g?

Wheat / Utah State

Soybean

KSC

Sweetpotato

Tuskegee

Rice / Purdue

Wheeler et al., 1999. Acta Hort.

Cultivar Comparisons and Crop Breeding

Several Universities:

Cultivar Comparisonswheat, potato, soybean,

lettuce, sweetpotato, tomato

←

Utah State:

Super Dwarf Wheat

Apogee Wheat

Perigee Wheat

Super Dwarf Rice

Tuskegee:

ASP GM-Sweetpotato

←

Dwarf Pepper ↑ and Tomato ↓

Plants for Future Space Missions

International Space Station (plant experiments—salad crops)

Lunar Outpost (supplemental foods)

Martian Outpost / Colonies

Lunar Lander (no plants)

(supplemental foods ⇨ autonomous life support)

2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 2045 2050

Crew Exploration Vehicle (supplemental crops Mars transit)

Bioregenerative Life Support

Integrate physico-chemical and plant-based life support systems

Nakamura, Monje & Bugbee AAIA 2013

Salad Machine – Transit / Orbit• Scale – Expand from Experimental to Production

• 150 g/d = daily: 25 g salad for Crew of 6• 1 m2 Planting area

• Performance criteria:• Productivity – maximize• Consistency – robust, repeatable• Crew Time – minimal

• Spacecraft• Cabin air – CO2, VOCs• Limited Power & Volume• Water load to ECLSS• Microgravity Effects

* Soil Amendments ISRU

Plants

Soil

Inedible

Edible

Biochar / Compost

CO2

RegolithCH4

O2

hv

CO2

CDRA

Sabatier

Vent

Biomass

*

Make Soil on Surface Systems

Questions?

Light, Productivity, and Crop Area Requirements

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Light (mol m-2 day-1)

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a R

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uir

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(m

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ers

on

)

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5

10

15

20

25

30

Pro

du

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vit

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g m

-2d

ay

-1)ProductivityArea

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20

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100

120

140

Bright Sunny

Day on Mars

Bright Sunny

Day on Earth

NASA’s Biomass Production Chamber (BPC)