Protik Space Systems

https://youtu.be/65Op_mxZ7hQ

https://github.com/RittikBarua/Nasa-Space-Apps

Our "Food Production Module" is made of ABS plastic. As a result, it is transparent. So, the astronauts will be able to view all the crops very easily. The module has a thickness of 1cm to protect the crops from external radiation. The total height of the Food Production Module is 1.9m, and the diameter is 1.02m. The volume of our module is only 1.6 cubic meters with a mass of only 300Kg. We have kept six chambers in the module. Each of them has a height of 30cm. The first five chambers are for crops production, and the bottom one is for storing dry foods like seeds, tortillas, dried beef, etc. The bottom chamber will have a built-in cold storage system to keep all the dry foods fresh.

The chamber plates are made of Titanium to protect the crops from radiation and to provide the necessary support for the 10cm thick plant beds (clay medium). We have placed a rigid cylinder at the center of the module which is made of Aluminum. This cylinder will be connected with the spacecraft at the bottom, and we will also attach a planetary gearhead and motor to rotate this cylinder. As the chamber plates are connected with the cylinder, they will also rotate. As a result, astronauts will be able to reach every crop easily through the 60cm hygiene slot with built-in gloves to avoid contamination. We have also attached small pipes with the inner cylinder to water the plants. As the cylinder will rotate with the chamber plates, the cylinder will create a simulated environment with artificial gravity. Thus, we will be able to water the plants easily. As the successful implementation requires further research, we have kept the conventional syringe method as well. Furthermore, the astronauts can easily collect the foods in the collection box that can go inside and come outside.

We have also kept an electronics box to store all the circuits and switches, which astronauts will operate to rotate the chamber plates. We have used a fan system as well to control the humidity. There is a monitor attached with the electronics box to show all the real-time data. We have placed another container to store the oxygen, carbon-di-oxide, and temperature sensor. As a result, astronauts can monitor, control and maintain the ambient environment inside the chamber.

We have selected 12 crops to grow in the chamber: Mushrooms, Romaine Lettuce, Small Carrots, Spinach, Mustard, Garlic, Radish, Oats, Small Potatoes, Wild Leeks, Brussel Sprouts, and Small Tomatoes. These crops can serve a balanced diet for the astronauts. We have also decided to keep dry foods that astronauts can directly consume with little or no baking. These include Tortilla, Dried Beef, Cheese, Tarhana, Powdered Milk, Dried Terasi, Macadamia Nuts, and Dried Shrimp. These foods will boost the supply of carbohydrates, fat, and protein. Astronauts will use the dry foods twice a week, and they will maintain a rotation to consume the dry foods. For example, if they consume Tortilla and Beef for one week, they will consume Nuts and Tarhana next week.

Our food production module has used the space efficiently. We have implemented a state-of-the-art design with an advanced system like artificial gravity to water the plants. Our module will hold 0.4 cubic meters of soil (clay medium) which requires approximately 65 liters of water to grow crops. If we use the current methods implemented on ISS, we can produce about 5 liters of water, including a cutoff. Moreover, we will be able to control the chamber environments as well. As a result, we can also collect the evaporated water from transpiration with the help of our module because we have kept small channels along with the chamber plates. Finally, we have used SolidWorks to design our "Food Production Module" and C language to write the codes for our monitoring system. We believe that our module will maintain sustainable food production in long-term missions with further development.

The team tried to bring together information from various organizations while compiling it for our project. However, considering NASA's success related to the field we are trying to work, we've compiled most of our data using NASA's work with "Veggie" and "Advanced plant habitat". Furthermore, we have used the "Deep Space Food Challenge" data to get an idea about the dimension constraints while designing our food module.

As our project deals with mostly growing crops in space for long-term space flights, the only data we could harvest for crops were from ISS experiments with their two prior experiments. We were able to find links between various crops on earth, and between the ones that were grown in space. Calculating the needs of the astronauts and finding ways to make food more mentally and physically satisfying for them.

Along with NASA's data on crops we used existent knowledge on crop growth on Earth and tried to fit it into our food production module. We also used data from Bion 7, and space station Mir on their expedition in the late 1900s. Even though we weren't able to find a direct correlation we were able to diversify and properly judge our crop choices that have better chances in space.

These data helped give our project a better footing, even though we had a lack of data as it's still a comparatively new horizon for humanity's long-term space-flight programs.

We found the "Space Apps" experience extremely enlightening as we found ourselves on a journey as even NASA is trying to find the same answers to the same questions while facing the same challenges. As we delved deeper into the challenge of our choice "Have seeds will travel" we realized why we specifically choose this challenge.

The challenge is a remarkable one. When we realized the long term implications of the challenge we were working on, a thing of the future that we have brought close to our present. As we learned of the challenges we found solutions, and most importantly when speaking in regards to space, we found possibilities and we found hope for a future in the stars.

Our approach to solving this resulted less from data analysis, but more to possibilities as all space travel has resorted to this even in the past, and looking forward to the future. Our analysis, and finding correlation between data helped us find answers to the problems facing long-term space flights.

The major setbacks regarding our project was the lack of data of crops in space, however this made the project much more exciting and more ambitious. And we found it extremely challenging as our proposed model had to depend on numerous assumptions, but that’s why we got better at calculated assumptions that a trait we believe is necessary for our odyssey in space.

We have used several data, resources and tools to design our "Food Production Module." We have listed the resources in the following space.

1. Veggie, https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/veggie_fact_sheet_508.pdf
2. Advanced Plant Habitat, https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/advanced-plant-habitat.pdf
3. Food Production: Canadian Space Agency, https://asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/sciences/food-production/default.asp
4. Deep Space Food Challenge (Page-8), https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5fd5ab003c1f6275809f31d9/t/60c7cf10b738762702d8f839/1623707485771/FNL_NASA_DSF_Phase_1_Rules-rev-1.pdf
5. Growing Healthy Foods in Space, https://asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/sciences/food-production/growing-healthy-food-in-space-and-remote-areas.asp
6. Eating in Space, https://asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/astronauts/living-in-space/eating-in-space.asp
7. Growing Plants in Space, https://www.nasa.gov/content/growing-plants-in-space

Our project would have been incomplete without these resources. We are grateful to all of them for helping us developing a potential food production system for long term space missions.

#design, #food, #travel, #sustainability, #nutrition, #autonomous, #system

This project has been submitted for consideration during the Judging process.