CopernicusTeam

Rzeszow, Subcarpathia Voivodeship | Have seeds will travel!

Green Laver Project

High-Level Project Summary

In our project we created way of farming edible algae. It solves the challenge because we invented a easy to grow source of food in space conditions. It main importance is that our project at its core relays on basic idea of growing plants in modular small boxes. We also consider it cheap to produce and easy to utilize.

Link to Project "Demo"

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10wuP2MaQO4D5J-0kQXth2nyG3h90ewT_?usp=sharing

Link to Final Project

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1NDOadnFDVH4MTuw9yRphOEw7csH13YAq?usp=sharing

Detailed Project Description

Technical details of our project:

- The stowage volume of our system is low because we can transport only raw materials and later print them on 3D printer on actual ship or station

- the boxes can be printed on a 3D printer, so they are really easy to produce, they are also light, so there can be an additional amount of them on the ship

- the crew can check and assess the development status of algae at any time, this is due to the use of a tinted cover

- we try to use as few resources as possible, for example, we use the CO2 from the system located on the spacecraft (LSR), this allows us to use the CO2 generated during respiration for the cultivation of algae

- when removing the algae to ready for harvesting, the box can be easily cleaned - the water and dirt are sucked out, the algae are collected and the box is ready for the next use

Cultivating algae would rely on astronauts that will spray inside of grow box with special mixture of water phosphor nitrogen and algae measured in right proportion. In there plants would grow lighten by lightbulbs placed strategically inside growing room. After period of estimated 30 days it will be ready to harvest. Then astronaut manually would dethatch box from wall and transport it to machine that would separate water from algae. Later that water would be enriched and used for planting. From single box we get estimated 6kg of dried algae. It’s energic value is 2040kcal.

the growth area is open to the vehicle's environment, but water does not penetrate outside the box - this is due to the use of semi-permeable membranes in some places of the box through which gases can move freely and water and algae do not - thanks to this solution, the level of oxygen and co2 inside the box is still constant changes and if the co2 is too little it is added by the pipe from the system (LSR)

- when collecting algae, pump out the water that goes to the tank, then add elements such as phosphorus and nitrogen in the tank, finally the water can go back to the next box where the cultivation will start from the beginning - this allows you to save water

- our system also includes thermometers, which allows astronauts to control the conditions in which algae live

- water is reused and oxygen is released into the atmosphere of the spacecraft - this allows less oxygen production by the LSR system, which will translate into lower energy use

- if a low level of CO2 is detected by our system, it will provide a portion of CO2 so that the growth and development of plants will be constantly at the same - high - level

Space Agency Data

https://asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/sciences/food-production/default.asp

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/veggie_fact_sheet_508.pdf/

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/advanced-plant-habitat.p

Hackathon Journey

The project was a very interesting experience. He taught us to think in a different way than before. We saw many connections that we had not seen before. At first we had doubts, but then it got better and better. The initial design we created did not meet our expectations, so we chose something else. Szubko, we developed a different project with slightly different assumptions. It turned out to be a better solution and we are satisfied with it. We would like to thank everyone who helped us in this project and the people who invited us to it.