High-Level Project Summary
We identified three major hurdles to the challenge posed: deep-space radiation, volume/mass constraints and the lack of an operational crop system. To address these, we introduce a sophisticated glass that permits only visible wavelength to penetrate and a layer of water is sandwiched between the glasses to further reduce radiation effects. The crop seeds for the system ranges from chillies, duckweed, tomatoes, quinoa, lettuce providing a wide range of nutrients to keep the crew members healthy. Additionally, a protein coating of seeds will allow them to germinate better. To increase autonomy, a programmable mechanical arm that inspects and takes action while monitoring the ecosystem
Link to Project "Demo"
Link to Final Project
Detailed Project Description
The primary motive is to create a safe environment for the selected crops that can supply our crew members with the necessary nutrients. Because radiation can damage plants DNA and protein, we ought to protect them. A radiation meter is devised to measure approximate cosmic radiation inside the crop system. This will indicate whether the harvested crop is safe to consume. A rotating belt has several seed sacks embedded in it - water irrigation, additional nutrients are added at this spot. Once the mechanical arm collects the ripe veggies, ozonated water circulars in the plastic bag before it is sent via outlet. Before the next batch of seeds is sown, the soil is mixed with a ginger oil essential that will fight against micro bacterial infection. The constant LED lighting will keep the temperature moderate and to check this fluctuation, temperature and humidity sensors are used. After reaching a threshold of 25C, the lightings will automatically be turned off. This is achieved by the Arduino board. After landing at Mars, crew members can capture CO2 from the atmosphere and fetch it to the crop production system.
Space Agency Data
- Research paper reflecting recent lab experimentation on crops were carefully studied
- NASA's educational resources were often referred
- Popular newspaper journal articles were looked into
Hackathon Journey
Participating in the Space Apps Challenge gave each member a chance to demonstrate their best skill sets, such a platform connects people and develop a new way of thinking with different perspectives. Since we had a lot of differences in hours (day in Australia and night in Peru), challenges like time management, consensus posed issues to our teamwork productivity. The knowledge we gained through this project is priceless. We would like to thank NASA for all support, timely announcements that led to a team success.
References
Resources:
Mou, B. (2011). Mutations in Lettuce Improvement. International Journal of Plant Genomics, 2011(3), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1155/2011/723518
Escobar, C. M., & Escobar, A. C. (2017). Duckweed: A Tiny Aquatic Plant with Enormous Potential for Bioregenerative Life Support Systems. Spacelabtech. http://www.spacelabtech.com/uploads/3/4/9/7/34972090/ices-2017-281_-__escobar__-_duckweed_final.pdf
The Spruce (2020). How to Grow Quinoa Plants at Home. https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-grow-quinoa-plants-at-home-5075467
NASA Kennedy (2021). Chile Peppers Start Spicing Up the Space Station. NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/chile-peppers-start-spicing-up-the-space-station
Kwon, K. (2021). Why Cosmic Radiation Could Foil Plans for Farming on Mars. Inside Science. https://www.insidescience.org/news/why-cosmic-radiation-could-foil-plans-farming-mars
Misra, G. (2017). Seeds in space – how well can they survive harsh, non-Earth conditions?. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/seeds-in-space-how-well-can-they-survive-harsh-non-earth-conditions-81803
SciShow Space. (2019, August 21). This Reaction Could Let Us Live on Mars. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOfGEDGdCxs
NASA. Closing the Loop: Recycling Water and Air in Space. NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/146558main_RecyclingEDA(final)%204_10_06.pdf
NASA. Space Faring The Radiation Challenge. NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/284277main_Radiation_MS.pdf
NASA Johnson (2015). Can Plants Grow with Mars Soil?. NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/can-plants-grow-with-mars-soil
Abdullahi, A., Ahmad, K., Ismail, I. S., Asib, N., Ahmed, O. H., Abubakar, A. I., Siddiqui, Y., & Ismail, M. R. (2020). Potential of Using Ginger Essential Oils-Based Nanotechnology to Control Tropical Plant Diseases. The Plant Pathology Journal. 36(6), 515–535. https://doi.org/10.5423/PPJ.RW.05.2020.0077
Tools:
Arduino
3D Paint
Google Slides
Tags
#habitat
Global Judging
This project has been submitted for consideration during the Judging process.