High-Level Project Summary
The project presents a farming system that combines systems implemented on the International Space Station together with vertical technologies. The idea is to create a structure attached to the spacecraft that travels to Mars. The crops will be managed vertically in an automated way. The application of hydroponic methods allows the minimum use of resources for the plantations. In addition, a swarm of robots that work in outer space will be created. These robots will collect energy released by various bodies in space such as stars. They will also be in charge of collecting base chemical components to create water extracted from asteroids and meteorites.
Link to Project "Demo"
Link to Final Project
Detailed Project Description
To solve the problem of feeding the crew on a space trip, we have considered several essential aspects:
• The trip is planned with a crew of 4 to 6 people, so food production must be considerable and sustainable over time.
• In addition, the trip will last up to 3 years, so the crops must generate their own seeds.
• The crew's diet must be balanced, nutritious and adaptable to the different scenarios that might pop out.
• The duration of the mission requires an extra amount of energy to run the cultivation system.
• In addition to energy, water is needed for crops to grow in optimal conditions.
The crops will be organized using automated vertical structures. These are more efficient in terms of organization and harvesting of crops. Various prototypes of PH-02 systems such as those used for radish plantations on the International Space Station (IIS) can be used as a model (Radish Experiment Ready for Launch, 2020). These ones have proven to be a viable system for growing crops in space (NASA, 2021). Combined with hydroponic methods applied in space, it is an ideal complement, since these methods have been able to adapt environments in space (Mungin, 2019). It is complemented by an alert system for astronauts to monitor the plantations. This can also be a support system for communication with ground stations. The main benefits of this implementation are: better use of physical space, sustainable crops, variety in food and better nutrition for astronauts. The objective is to establish a long-term sustainable development process optimizing resources.
Travel time generates extra energy and water necessities to maintain the system. Those in charge of solving this problem are a swarm of robots that will travel through space. These will contain a battery and panels responsible for collecting energy. In addition, they will carry containers to collect the basic elements to generate water. The operation of the robots will be based on the Dyson swarm (Hadhazy & Hadhazy, 2021) to harvest energy from space. The intelligence of the drones will be granted by herd intelligence algorithms (Ajlouni, 2018) where they will have objectives defined by those who will work together. The benefit that these robots bring is to serve as explorers and collectors of vital resources for space travel. The objective is to provide the ship with extra resources so that the trip is sustainable in the future.
The first objective for which the robots of the swarm will work together will be the harvesting of energy. In space there are various energy sources such as solar rays and atoms, which are energy sources for a spacecraft (What Powers a Spacecraft? | NASA Space Place - NASA Science for Kids, 2019). These energy atoms are released from elements in space such as stars (Zuckerman, 2021). Stars also naturally release considerable amounts of heat that can be converted into energy and stored by panels. The identification of the stars will be carried out in conjunction with the information obtained from NASA databases. The orientation of the robot will be complemented by phototactic algorithms for the identification of light and energy sources (Cheraghi, Vila, Graffi, 2020). These will act as sources of direction for the flock in search of starlight. The benefit will be to be able to obtain extra energy from the space bodies to power the system. The goal is to keep the system functional throughout the space travel time.
Obtaining water is a fundamental task for the survival of plants and people. In space, you cannot find water fountains, but you can get the basic elements to replace it. The same space bodies serve as sources of hydrogen (Zuckerman, 2021), the basic component for obtaining water. Additionally, it has been proven that bodies such as asteroids contain oxygen and water molecules (Jet Propulsion Laboratory CALTECH, 2021). The Jet Propulsion Laboratory published on August 14 of this year the discovery of asteroid number 1000. Only in asteroids that orbit close to Earth (1.7 million kilometers) there are 400 to 1200 billion liters of water - (Rivkin, DeMeo, 2019), (Bartels, 2019). Taking into account that the approximate distance to reach Mars is 54.6 million kilometers (NASA Mars Exploration Program, s. F.), The probabilities of water sources increase exponentially. The benefit will be to obtain a natural source of a vital resource such as water. The goal is to provide crops with a natural source of vital fluid.
Space Agency Data
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory at CALTECH is a research center for planetary phenomena and the vastness of the solar system. Photographic evidence such as storms over Jupiter or valleys on Mars have been taken by cameras at this center. They handle projects such as the Hubble telescope or the Deep Space Network antenna, capturing signals from space missions. This program has been responsible for discovering 1,113,527 asteroids and 3,743 comets. The CNEOS program (Center for NEO Studies, s. F.) Provides information on celestial bodies near the Earth (1.7 million kilometers). This information would help us to define trajectories for the robots in the herd in the early stages of the journey using artificial intelligence algorithms.
NASA's Planetary Science Division (NASA Science Solar System Exploration, n.d.) is a database of information collected from interplanetary missions. Managed by scientists who ensure its reliability and usability for the community. The Small Bodies Node (SBN) provides information on asteroids and comets. Leaving the perimeter considered to be close to Earth, this information is essential for the robots to travel to potential sources of energy and water.
NASA's Planetary Science Division (NASA Science Solar System Exploration, n.d.) is a database of information collected from interplanetary missions. Managed by scientists who ensure its reliability and usability for the community. The Small Bodies Node (SBN) provides information on asteroids and comets. Leaving the perimeter considered to be close to Earth, this information is essential for the robots to travel to potential sources of energy and water.
The NASA Harvest Data Catalog (NASA, s. F.-a) has information on agriculture and Earth observations. Before the trip, you can study crops and select the most suitable vegetables for the spacecraft's crops. With this information, the most suitable elements are chosen to be sent to the space in the vertical structure.
Hackathon Journey
We have had several experiences participating in NASA hackathons, and it is always exciting. It allows us to know ourselves and our abilities. It also helps us to develop new learning that perhaps we did not know we had. Finally, it is a way to strengthen bonds as a team and learn to work much better together for a common goal.
Our group has been working on an agricultural project for some time. We have learned that technology and nature are forces that combined can lead us to progress. We decided to apply several of this knowledge that, together with NASA technology, inspired us to carry out this project. We have gained many experiences from this process, which has given us the required focus to solve the problems of this challenge. Developing technology to feed the community is a wonderful project. It is also important to develop technology that allows us to explore other planets.
First of all, our gratitude goes to “Instituto Superior Tecnológico Guayaquil” (ISTG) for giving us the opportunity to participate in this event. To the young members of the Robotics and IoT Club who are part of the team that collaborated on this project. To the students of the Graphic Design career for joining this initiative that will take us to the interstellar status.
References
1. Ajlouni, Naim & Hameed, Alaa & Ajlouni, Firas & Alobaidi, Wisam & Dehghanian, Kaveh & Moghimi, Saed & Zontul, Metin & Sönme, Ferdi. (2018). Swarms Intelligence for Autonomous Drones.
2. A. R. Cheraghi, F. S. Vila and K. Graffi, "Phototactic Movement of Battery-Powered and Self-Charging Robot Swarms," 2020 5th Asia-Pacific Conference on Intelligent Robot Systems (ACIRS), 2020, pp. 73-79, doi: 10.1109/ACIRS49895.2020.9162628.
3. Bartels, M. (2019, 11 marzo). How Much Water May Be Tucked Away in Nearby Asteroids? Space.Com. https://www.space.com/how-much-water-in-asteroids.html
4. Center for NEO Studies. (s. f.). CNEOS Program. Recuperado 3 de octubre de 2021, de https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/
5. Hadhazy, A., & Hadhazy, A. (2021, 13 marzo). Could We Build a Dyson Sphere?
Popular Mechanics. https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/deep-space/a11098/dyson-sphere/
6. Herridge, L. (2020, 11 diciembre). Astronauts Harvest Radish Crop on International Space Station. NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/astronauts-harvest-radish-crop-on-international-space-station/
7. Jet Propulsion Laboratory CALTECH. (2021, 3 septiembre). Planetary Radar Observes 1,000th Near-Earth Asteroid Since 1968. JPL. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/planetary-radar-observes-1000th-near-earth-asteroid-since-1968
8. Mungin, R. (2019, 20 junio). Omni-gravity Hydroponics for Space Exploration. Texas Tech University. https://ttu-ir.tdl.org/handle/2346/84457
9. NASA. (s. f.-a). Data – NASA Harvest Portal. NASA Harvest Data Catalog. Recuperado 3 de octubre de 2021, de https://harvestportal.org/data/
10. NASA. (s. f.). NASA Solar System Exploration - Home. NASA Solar System Exploration. Recuperado 3 de octubre de 2021, de https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/
11. NASA. (s. f.-c). PDS: Small Bodies Node Home. NASA PDS. Recuperado 3 de octubre de 2021, de https://pds-smallbodies.astro.umd.edu/
12. NASA. (s. f.-b). Welcome to the Planetary Data System. Planetary Data System. Recuperado 3 de octubre de 2021, de https://pds.nasa.gov/
13. NASA Mars Exploration Program. (s. f.). Mars Close Approach. Recuperado 2 de octubre de 2021, de https://mars.nasa.gov/all-about-mars/night-sky/close-approach/
14. NASA. (2021, 12 julio). Growing Plants in Space. https://www.nasa.gov/content/growing-plants-in-space/
15. NASA Science Solar System Exploration. (s. f.). Home –. NASA Solar System Exploration. Recuperado 3 de octubre de 2021, de https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/
16. Planetary Science Institute. (s. f.). PDS Asteroid/Dust Archive | PDS SBN Asteroid/Dust Subnode. Planetary Data System. Recuperado 3 de octubre de 2021, de https://sbn.psi.edu/pds/
17. Radish Experiment Ready for Launch. (2020, 29 septiembre). [Vídeo]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5jjf-kHcT0
18. Rivkin, A. S., & DeMeo, F. E. (2019). How many hydrated NEOs are there? Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 124, 128– 142. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JE005584
19. What Powers a Spacecraft? | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids. (2019, 24 octubre). NASA Science. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/what-powers-a-spacecraft/en/
Zuckerman, C. (2021, 3 mayo). Everything you wanted to know about stars. Science. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/stars
Tags
#PH02 #energy #verticalfarming #swarm #stars
Global Judging
This project has been submitted for consideration during the Judging process.