High-Level Project Summary
The BIOS-1 uses a maglev motor to rotate the inner module which produces artificial gravity radially outwards causing the pods to face inwards. This gravity is used to help the hydro drip system deliver water to the plants and also to assist the roots in aligning themselves. The hydro drip system uses semi-permeable membranes along with a centrifugal pump and electronically controlled check valves to deliver water to the plants. The pods are on a free axle in order to correctly align themselves in microgravity. It is designed so that the light and the sensors are always facing the growth area. An advanced CAPS system is in place to control and monitor the BIOS-1.
Link to Project "Demo"
Link to Final Project
Detailed Project Description
The BIOS - 1 is an advanced, scalable, fully autonomous, and self-sustaining space plantation pod system. Built for a team of six astronauts, BIOS - 1 can run on both, spacecrafts, and terrain. Our project aims to provide the Astronauts with nutrients in a long-lasting, easily absorbed form—freshly grown fresh fruits and vegetables while adding fresh food to the astronauts’ diet and enhancing happiness and well-being on the space station. In the absence of gravity, plants use other environmental factors, such as light, to orient and guide growth.
When crews venture further into space, traveling for months or years without resupply shipments, the vitamins in pre-packaged form break down over time, which presents a problem for astronaut health. Hence, we plan on growing a variety of plants, including three types of lettuce, Chinese cabbage, mizuna mustard and red Russian kale. We also have peppers, cherry tomatoes as well as a few different types of berries included in our project. All the cultivation will take place hydroponically in an enclosed and regulated environment. Not only are these foods nutrient-dense and provide a tremendous number of benefits to the astronauts but can also be added to a variety of cuisines.
These foods provide a variety of vitamins, minerals and fibre required for sustaining astronaut health. They also provide anti-oxidants which will protect cells from damage from unstable molecules called free radicals. We also plan on planting blueberries, cranberries and strawberries which will help reduce damage to the astronauts’ brain due to cosmic radiation. Lycopene in cherry tomatoes may support bone health. A study found that women who consumed tomato products saw lower rates of bone density loss compared to those who consumed less lycopene. This can pose to be an added advantage for astronauts since the lack of gravity on the station and approximately 1/3rd gravity on mars can affect bone density of astronauts.
Our project is built to meet new missions and operational and environmental constraints. The whole crop production system can cultivate the required amount of food while in transit to the Martian or the lunar surface and will still function when its touched down. To tackle the lack of gravity while in transit to the destination, we adapted pseudo gravity technique via rotation which creates centrifugal force but only limited to the system and not to the station. To maintain crops growth in terms of data the sensors will come into play, those sensors will share the data to the life support system which will take necessary actions which will boost up the growth of an individual crop.
The life support of the crop production system is designed in such a way that it monitors each seedling's growth. It analyses the data received from the CAPS and directs just the nutrient amount required for the crop, coordinating with the nutrient delivery network.
The CAPS is the central “managing authority,” the operation code of the BIOS - 1 which manages all inputs, analyses them, and accordingly acts. CAPS takes data from multiple PH, temperature, light sensitivity, water level, water constituent, electrical conductivity and IR imaging sensors and matches the same with the CAPS PLANT RESEARCH DATABASE. This database is a collection of records with details on the nutrient, light, water, and other requirements for each plant. When planting, the astronaut registers in CAPS the plant planted in a particular pod which CAPS uses to do this. CAPS uses specialized sensors made to operate in the BIOS - 1’s-controlled environment.
The water system which is responsible for accepting polled sensor data and accordingly deliver the required water for each plant as per instructions from the operating code and is internally connected to the wireframe of the design further assist the ECC in nutrient delivery by employing its existing infrastructure to dual uses. The water also features individual per-pod electronic check valves to ensure each plant gets just the amount of water it needs.
For growing plants on the BIOS -1, an efficient lighting system is required for the proper functioning of the system. Adjustable spectrum COB (chip on board) LED grow lights that emit light with wavelengths between 280nm and 800nm are used to maximize the efficiency of plant growth and energy usage on the BIOS - 1. The entire light system is controlled by a centralized automated computer software that controls the quality, quantity and duration of light received by each plant. To do this it uses available plant growth data and keeps updating this database as it gains experience.
Space Agency Data
We used data from project COLUMBUS (SAE International) for determining the type of pump used.
We used data from NASA research programs about plant growth in space such as VEGGIE and ADVANCED PLANT HABITAT(APH).
We also used data from the Mars rovers by NASA to determine the power requirement and the energy production capacity on Mars.
We also used data from various other missions such as :
- mars perseverance rover
- mars pathfinder
- ulysses
- galileo
- voyager 1 and 2
- viking mars landers
- pioneer 10 and 11
in order to determine the power usage
Hackathon Journey
Our Space Apps experience was extremely intriguing and a complete mind-opener. Not only did we learn from all the research we did to come up with an idea but this journey also taught us to work together as a team. Dividing our work and then compiling everything to finally reach the completion of our BIOS project really taught us the power of team spirit and hard work. All the time we put in to this project is worth every minute of it.
While going through the challenges, the Have Seeds Will Travel! challenge caught our eye because of it's vast implications and a having impact on a huge target audience. Not only does this project have immense benefits for the astronauts but also for people on earth generating employment and business. Our approach involved discussing the basic background of the project and coming up with a list of pointers including each and every task that were required to complete this project. Then, each task was assigned to the team members based on their skill set and using the basic economic principle of Division of Labour. Lastly, we all came together to compile all the work that we had done and eliminating any possible.
The setbacks that we faced were majorly the problems pointed out by our mentors in our project. After each and every mentoring session, our team came together and discussed the problem, coming up with innovative yet practical solutions and implementing it in our project.
Firstly, we would like to thank NASA and Aaruush, Chennai for giving us the opportunity to do this extremely creative and innovative project. Secondly, we would like to thank our mentors for pointing out the problems with our project so that we could come up with solutions. We all would like to thank each other for all the moral support because this project would not have been possible without each other!
References
Fusion 360 was used to make a 3d model of the BIOS-1, our website was done using HTML5 and BOOTSTRAP 4 with CSS3, some of the sources used are as follows :
https://www.nasa.gov/content/growing-plants-in-space
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/Seven-Ways-the-ISS-Helps-Study-Plant-Growth
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3350170/
https://www.agrowtronics.com/growing-bell-peppers-in-hydroponics/
Global Judging
This project has been submitted for consideration during the Judging process.