Xanath

Leon, Guanajuato | Have seeds will travel!

XANATH Cube System

High-Level Project Summary

"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need"Years ago going to space was seen as imposible. Today going to Mars is one step away from the human being. Heading to Mars is a multidisciplinary mission that requires a viable food system for the crew. The actual astronauts diet works for short missions but this food is expected, according to NASA’S research, to lose efficiency of nutrients in such a long trip. To solve this we present XANATH, a complete system that integrates biotechnology, robotics and computer systems. This is able to achieve the necessary conditions to maintain food crops, to produce fresh food and store packaged food.

Link to Project "Demo"

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1D2-UqKxGU56QDjbmQft7TVguEABUL8eu/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=100303790346060306390&rtpof=true&sd=true

Link to Final Project

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1RneVrfpbbaKIh9DkT9NGBRP6LfK3RiCo?usp=sharing

Detailed Project Description

Description


Xanath cube system, consists of a complete system that implements the use of biotechnology, robotics and computational systems in order to provide a complete multitasking equipment to grow fresh food, store and monitor crops at the same time. Xanath includes sophisticated components and an adaptable design for spaceships due its hand luggage size, inspired by the structure of nanosatellites; in turn provides a friendly environment in turn provides a friendly environment.


Structure:

It consists of a rectangular structure with 6 spaces or compartments, which can be visible to the crew, on the sides will maintain screens consisting of photobioreactors which will have microalgae crops; the packaged food can be stored in the structure, once the food consumed the spaces will be free for crops; its structure and design allows both the cultivation and storage of food; this results in efficient space utilization during a mission.


Compartments include:


  • Cameras
  • Ducts
  • Sensors
  • Trays for the placement of the hydromembrane
  • LED lights
  • Windows for air flow and carbon dioxide


The system will be powered by electrical sources, recycled water supplies, air, carbon dioxide through tubes connected to the system, which meets the requirements of seeds, hydromembrane rolls and photobioreactors. The system will provide food, fresh air and scientific material for the expedition's astronauts.



Integrated monitoring system


Through humidity, temperature and optical sensors connected to our main computer, the different values monitored within the crop will be displayed, these values will be sent to an HMI (Human Machine Interface) and can be manipulated by the astronaut as desired.

In the easy and intuitive interface, the greenhouse actuators can be manipulated, as well as be able to review the different values displayed by sensors, actuator status and all manual control if the user wishes. In addition, through cameras, photos will be taken per day to monitor the growth and health of the plants, through an integrated software that with the help of the lights and the image taken, will apply different color and frequency filters which will provide information about their growth and health status.


Software


All missions regardless of their objective, need the collection of information during the mission and after it, together with the monitoring system as well as the components included in each compartment, a software with a simple interface was implemented, where a code capable of applying filters to images was structured, breaking down colors, textures, noise, interference and shapes. This is in order to provide information about the health of plants, size and even if the plant is beginning to bear fruit; in turn, all the data obtained may be stored and taken to a database, in order to collect information for future missions.


Irrigation System


The irrigation system works with the absorption of water that will be carried through ducts to the gel membrane, the water will automatically enter under the containers with the hydromembranes so that they absorb the water and keep it in contact with the seeds and roots of the plants. The irrigation will be automatically with the option to change manually in case of emergencies. It will be watered 1 time per week to avoid excessive water consumption. In addition, there will be a water supply for the bioreactors with the algae. All water in the system will be recycled water from the spaceship's Water Collection and Recycling Systems.


Supply of CO2 and O2.


The greenhouse will have a constant airflow rich in carbon dioxide to maintain the nutritional requirements necessary for plants to grow and flourish. In the photobioreactor there will also be a constant flow of carbon dioxide for the growth of the microalgae, this in order to reproduce them as well as obtain oxygen and biomass granted by the microalgae. These microalgae cover an important role in the mission, function as fertilizer for plants, provide clean oxygen for astronauts, can be used for scientific purposes of genetic modification and in turn are edible, so they will be an alternative energy source for astronauts in every way. Plants that meet their life cycle can be used to create compost and be reused in future harvests.


Plant growth:


Hydromembranes contain the nutrients necessary for plant growth, which when in contact with water, absorb it and the action begins. The seeds are placed on the wet hydromembrane so that the absorption of water and nutrients begins. The roots begin to grow on the gel, thus allowing the growth of the plant, also because the membrane is translucent it allows to observe how these roots are propagated to understand their behavior and evolution in microgravity environments. Hydromembranes can be easily replaced, due to their simplicity. The high efficiency of the entire hydromembrane roll is essential to save weight to the mission, because a simple roll of 10 meters long by 50 cm wide, with only 5 kilos of weight, can create up to 2 thousand plots to sow.



Photobioreactors:

The photobioreactors will be placed on the sides on screens with the microalgae Chlorella vulgaris, the photobioreactor will be fed with water and CO2, these grow in fresh and salt water with an asexual reproduction, the microalgae are of great potential since they can produce oxygen that is required during the mission. This can produce edible biomass that can be used as a resource applicable to different areas that favor the research and production of new foods.


Adventages



  • It is a self-sustaining system that is capable of generating oxygen and food for astronauts, 2 essential factors for long-duration missions.
  • It can provide valuable information about genetic modification, useful for future Mars terraforming missions, imitating flavors, resistance to extreme climates, among others.
  • It has many areas of opportunity where it can be innovated, there will be constant improvements.


Tools


During the development of Xanath we use several resources such as:

-Fusion 360 and SolidWorks to materialize our design.

-Matlab and JavaScript to create some monitoring programs for the system.

-Canva to design the project presentation.

-NASA’s information database to understand the precedents of similar missions.

-Textbook “Humanity Future by Michio Kaku”.

Space Agency Data

During the development of our system NASA’s resources were really helpful and gave the team a much broader perspective of what this challenge wanted to achieve. For instance, the video in which the space crop production manager Mr. Ralph Fritsche explains this challenge inspired us to make Xanath an adaptable system so astronauts could plant the food they tend to miss the most from earth. The link to “Growing plants in space” explained the main issue related to the prepackaged food and from that point the idea of incorporating algae to increment nutritional facts was born, and at the same time many features in base of this were done, for example the idea of in a future use the seaweeds as a source of energy and biomass. Along this article we studied the Veggie and Advanced Plant Habitat project datasheets and in base of this we could picture the things our system will be needing in order to work properly. The article provided by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) was a main key in understanding how food production works in a different environment.

Hackathon Journey

The space apps gave us the main challenge to resolve and let the imagination be in every aspect, the creativity, knowledge and love in the space subject. We learn a lot of new research of NASA and everything that this organization do with all the information gathered in internet, also to work in team and use our knowledge and skills in what we love the most. Our approach was to develop futuristic technology on the next dream of humanity, the travel to Mars, our goal is to make safe food to astronauts and research how microorganism, specially algaes and plants, behaves with microgravity and in another planet. The team searched the best way to optimize our research and design of the project, everyone had an specific task to complete, like 3D modelling, gathering information of new tech and plants to take in the journey, designing logos and everything that is graphic. Sure we had some difficulties or disagreements, but with a good talk and looking for the best to the astronauts and our project it was possible to deliver a good idea and in a close future maybe, a good prototype.

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Tags

#Life #Food #Robots #BIOTECH #Healthy #Mission #Future

Have seeds will travel!

A viable food system for long-duration exploration missions does not yet exist, but it will be necessary to maintain crew health and performance. Your challenge is to design a deployable crop production system capable of supporting the nutritional requirements of a crew of 4-6 on a transit mission to Mars and back to Earth.