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ExoFeed

High-Level Project Summary

Exofeed is a revolutionary agro-technical system to set up a crop capable of providing food for astronauts' needs. It uses a system inspired by Japanese origami, forming a structure that is lightweight, strong and easily transportable by space rockets.The greenhouse is made of carbon fiber with a special coating of aluminum and polyethylene, which thanks to the data provided by NASA, was found to be one of the most efficient combinations in shielding radiation on Mars. These features allow ExoFeed to not overly burden the final launch weight of a space expedition while maintaining low transportation costs.

Link to Project "Demo"

https://youtu.be/OT9Jy4nbjyA

Link to Final Project

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1NYXHOrQCAPSkg2Z--DjqNcPdqiwc7KXj?usp=sharing

Detailed Project Description

The System

Exofeed is a revolutionary greenhouse that sets up a crop capable of providing food for astronauts' needs. There is no system capable of providing food for long duration space exploration in the solar system. Of course, this is necessary to maintain high performance and health of the crew of the space expedition.

is innovative agro-technical system uses a system inspired by Japanese origami, forming a structure that is lightweight, strong and easily transportable by space rockets. The greenhouse is made of carbon fiber with a special coating of aluminum and polyethylene, which thanks to the data provided by NASA, was found to be one of the most efficient combinations in shielding radiation on Mars.

These features allow ExoFeed to not overly burden the final launch weight of a space expedition while maintaining low transportation costs. We think Exo Feed can be used for future manned space missions to the Moon, Artemis missions, and Mars, with the Mars 2026 missions.

But is not all, ExoFeed, in fact, can also be used on poor and desert areas of our planet, such as sub-Saharan Africa thanks to the automatic system of hydroponic crop and thanks to the presence of photovoltaic panels also resistant to dust on Earth, Mars and the moon. Think of the impact this solution could have on scientific progress and on all of humanity.

Mechanical parts

The mechanism has 8 servomotors. They, trough screws, have the function of unfolding the structure until its maximum opening. There are two mechanical arms (that represent the diagonals of the principal cube) that perform a rotation of 45 degrees and manage to deploy the screw (which is present inside them) of a maximum of 70 cm.

Space Agency Data

We use data , information about the actual crop systems, international standard docking system, materials properties and food requirement at NASA and ESA websites and Wikipedia.

Hackathon Journey

This is our third space apps challenge we participate in. We think that this kind of competition can bring out new ideas for the future development of space exploration. is also a way to understand the importance of teamwork.