High-Level Project Summary
Our project 'Space Tube' depicts the crop cultivation process in space. Our team took the challenge to overcome some complications like temperature controlling, gravity stabilizing, using fluorescence and UV as the alternative of sunlight, oxygen- carbon di-oxide maintaining etc. Breakage of the vitamins is not gonna happen due to real time farming. The application of this project will eradicate the lacking of essential plant based nutrients of astronauts. The cultivation process will occur in space tube which is controlled by an autonomous system . Tube App will control space tube factors and give notifications about steps of farming. This technology will change food habit of astronauts.
Link to Project "Demo"
Link to Final Project
Detailed Project Description
Space Tube
Space tube is a tube where essential crops will be produced in space with the help of scientific method and the project is based on a mobile app. In this tube, the cultivation process, supplying nutrition will be processed autonomously. All of the information and data of this tube will be stored in ‘ Tube App'.
Fertilization
For the optimum growth of crops, A spray system will provide necessary amount of fertilizers and pesticides. An optimum amount of fertilizers and pesticides will be reserved and the autonomous system of the space tube will give command to apply those components.
Watering
The autonomous system of the space tube will give command at certain period of time to provide the necessary amount of water. Water will be supplied to the plants after the command.
Waste management
The surplus amount of fertilizers and pesticides will be automatically recycled and it will pass by a purification tube and finally it will come to the general tube and will be used further.
Artificial light
For the growth of seedlings artificial light will be used alternative to sunlight as there has a scarcity necessary amount of sunlight for growing crops. Artificial light will contain fluorescent light and ultraviolet light. Real Time Navigator will turn on the lights at a certain period of time to control photosynthesis rate.
Oxygen and Carbon di-oxide balance
A sensor of space tube autonomous system will control the level of carbon dioxide and oxygen which is naturally needed for the harvest.
Artificial Intelligence
Growth of the plants, environment of the tube and the nutrition supply will be monitored by ‘Image Processing’ and ‘ Real Time Monitoring System'.
Tube App
The app has been designed for controlling the hardware and it has it’s own data page. Astronauts can be acknowledged about the conditions of space tube and they can control the space tube specifications through the App. The app will store all the information and data of the tube. The app will notify the astronauts about the stages of crops and when to reap the harvest.
Therefore, autonomous system of the space tube will control the entire environment of the tube ensure the reaping of good harvest. It doesn’t need 24 hour human surveillance and the technology will ensure the nutrition for the astronauts for a long period of time in space. This technology can be used in earth for the reaping of quality harvest as the optimum environment for the crop is maintained strictly.
Tools
Hardware - Arduino, Raspberry pi, camera, moisture sensor, gas sensor, pixy camera, UV light, led light, water pump, timer module, Bluetooth module, pH meter, LDR, RC transmitter
Software - open cv, numpy, matlab, Arduino.cc, pycharm
Coding Language - C, C++, C#, Python
Space Agency Data
The veggie project from NASA basically inspired us to work on this project.
The use of led light in the Veggie project and the research data will help us in choosing the source of light. We also used the vitamin data from the Veggie project.
Hackathon Journey
It’s been nice journey so far as the journey providing us many precious moments by which we are learning not only techniques but also learning how to solve problems effectively in a short amount of time with the spirit of teamwork. The veggie project of NASA inspired us to build this project. We built a tube which is a container of crops and an autonomous system to control it. We went through a lot of hardship to solve the challenges of space such as gravity, sunlight, temperature and many other factors which are not in favor of farming. The works of this challenge were evenly distributed among the members and we worked tirelessly on making this project a successful one. We would like to thank NASA for giving us the opportunity to share our idea in a big platform. We are also thankful to our honorable mentors as they inspired us to think fearlessly. We are really happy to join in this event and this is surely a remarkable journey for us.
References
1. H. Anna, “Growing Plants in Space,” NASA. Accessed: Jul 12, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.nasa.gov/content/growing-plants-in-space.
2. Veggie Fact Sheet: https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/veggie_fact_sheet_508.pdf
Tags
#spacecultivation #artificialintelligence #imageprocessing #app #spacetube #tubeapp #fertilization #astronauts
Global Judging
This project has been submitted for consideration during the Judging process.