Young Space Technology Designers (YSTD)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpWCIlQ6D3o&t=3s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqlAxYGmGno

How We Addressed This Challange

With the developed crop production system, the nutritional needs of a crew of 4-6 people on a transit mission to Mars and Earth will be supported. The system is designed to be attached to the spacecraft. We also consider the potential effects of working in the deep space radiation environment and exposure to high-energy Galactic Cosmic Radiation (GCR) and Solar Particle Events (SPE), taking into account the transition environment. The name we give to this crop production system is "Space Greenhouse"

How is the design of the space greenhouse?

The space greenhouse will be a vertical cylindrical system with shelves and vertical farming will be done. The shelves will be in the form of a ring and there will be a cylindrical space inside the cylinder. The size of the module will be cylindrical with a radius of 4 meters and a height of 11 meters.

In the middle of the space there will be a ladder so that the astronaut can observe the plants. There will be robotic arms under the shelves, which will collect the plants and mushrooms that mature in this way, and the arms will be supported by artificial intelligence. There will be covers on the bottom and top of the module, so that it can connect with other parts, and when the spacecraft lands on the surface of Mars, there will be a door next to it for entry and exit. The height of the shelves will vary according to the needs of the plants and will consist of 24 shelves. The module interior will be insulated, and it will save heat and energy. The module will have an air lock on the side so that there will be no air exchange between the indoor and outdoor environment and the entrances and exits will be provided from here. The shelves will be manufactured from composite material, thus providing strength and flexibility. There will be a separate shelf for each plant and the depth of each shelf will be adjusted specifically for that plant. There will be an air filter inside the module and the air quality will. Shelves will be railed and space will be saved. Each shelf will have a device that measures humidity, temperature, soil pH, and oxygen in the air. Shelves will be locked and suspended for vibrations that will be kept stable. There will be adjustable distance bars to prevent the shelves from colliding with each other. Shelves will be irrigated agriculture, perforated pipes will pass under the shelves, and above the pipes there will be holes for rock wool and plants to enter. The pipes used in the shelves will be thin so that the water will flow without gravity thanks to the pressure. Plants suitable for irrigated agriculture on some shelves will be prepared accordingly in order to be more efficient and faster. Since the water will be constantly circulating in the pipes, it will be connected to the water purification device and in this way the water will remain clean. On other grounded shelves, on the other hand, there will be a thin layer of rock wool outside the pipes through which the drip pipes will pass through the soil, and it will absorb the water so that the soil will be moistened and the top of the soil will be covered with a fine mesh so that the soil does not fly away in a gravity-free environment. The module will have its own landing legs that can be separated from the rocket, a parachute system, and thrusters.

Plant Growing in Space

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.

Space Greenhouse Development Using Data from Advanced Plant Habitat

Summary

With the world's population increasing day by day, eyes were turned to other planets. A lot of work is already being done on colonizing Mars. We face big problems in the colonization of Mars. One of these big problems is the food needs of astronauts on manned flights, due to the distance between Earth and Mars. In the past years and manned missions, the food of astronauts was made on Earth and stored in spacecraft. Although there have been studies on growing food in space in recent years, no advanced solution has been found yet. In our project, we have contributed to the solution of this problem by developing a space greenhouse system that will meet the nutritional needs of the crew in missions that may take years, such as the Mars mission.