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NASA NTRS2019

From Project Mercury to the Breadboard Project

NASA's Project Mercury began as a response to the cold war with the Soviet Union and had a number of goals: to place a manned spacecraft in orbital flight around the earth; to investigate man's performance capabilities and his ability to function in the environment of space and to recover the man and the spacecraft safely. One aspect of preflight testing included the use of an altitude chamber to test each capsule and allow the astronauts to engage in simulated missions within a vacuum environment. Flash forward to 1985. The Biomedical Operations and Research Office at Kennedy Space Center proposed to use the chamber for an unusual mission under what was known as the Controlled Ecological Life Support Systems (CELSS)Breadboard Project. During 1985 into 1987, the chamber was converted to an environmentally-controlled, hydroponic plant growth chamber termed the "Biomass Production Chamber" and operated through late 2001.

Dreschel, Thomas W.↗

NASA NTRS1993

A Data Base of Crop Nutrient Use, Water Use, and Carbon Dioxide Exchange in a 20 Square Meter Growth Chamber: Wheat as a Case Study - Part 1

A data set is given describing the daily nutrient uptake, gas exchange, environmental conditions, and carbon (C), and nutrient partitioning at harvest for the entire canopy and root system of a wheat crop (Triticum aestivum, cv. Yecora Rojo). The data were obtained from a 20 sq m stand of wheat plants grown from planting to maturity in a closed, controlled environment, and include daily nutrient uptake [macronutrients, nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and sulfur (S); and micronutrients, iron (Fe), boron (B), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), and molybdenum (Mo)], canopy carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange rates, and transpiration. Environmental factors such as relative humidity, air temperature, nutrient solution temperature, pH and electrical conductivity, and photoperiod were controlled in the chamber to specific set points. A detailed description of biomass yield for each of the 64 plant growth trays comprising the 20 sq m of growth area is also provided, and includes dry weights of grain, straw, chaff, and roots, along with the concentration of nutrients in different plant tissues and the percent carbohydrate, fat, and protein. To our knowledge, this information represents one of the most extensive data sets available for a canopy of wheat grown from seed to maturity under controlled environmental and nutritional conditions, and thus may provide useful information for model development and validation. A methods section is included to qualify any assumptions that might he required for the use of the data in plant growth models, along with a daily event calendar indicating when adjustments in set points and occasional equipment or sensor failures occurred.

Wheeler, Raymond M.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Water Relations, Gas Exchange, and Nutrient Response to a Long Term Constant Water Deficit

Wheat plants (Triticum aestivum) were grown for 43 days in a micro-porous tube nutrient delivery system. Roots were unable to penetrate the microporous tube, but grew on the surface and maintained capillary contact with the nutrient solution on the inside of the tube through the 5-microns pores of the porous tube. Water potential in the system was controlled at -0.4, -0.8, and -3.0 kPa by adjusting the applied pressure (hydrostatic head) to the nutrient solution flowing through the microporous tubes. A relatively small decrease in applied water potential from -0.4 to -3.0 kPa resulted in a 34% reduction of shoot growth but only a moderate reduction in the mid-day leaf water potential from - 1.3 to - 1.7 MPa. Carbon dioxide assimilation decreased and water use efficiency increased with the more negative applied water Potentials, while intercellular C02 concentration remained constant. The physiological responses observed in this study in response to small constant differences in applied water potentials were much greater than expected from either the applied water potential or the observed plant water potential. Even though the micro-porous tube may not represent natural conditions and could possibly introduce morphological and physiological artifacts , it enables a high degree of control of water potential that facilitates the investigation of many aspects of water relations not practical with other experimental systems.

Berry, Wade L.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Water Relations, Gas Exchange, and Nutrient Response to a Long Term Constant Water Deficit

Wheat plants (Triticum aestivum) were grown for 43 days in a micro-porous tube nutrient delivery system. Roots were unable to penetrate the microporous tube, but grew on the surface and maintained capillary contact with the nutrient solution on the inside of the tube through the 5-micron pores of the porous tube. Water potential in the system was controlled at -0.4, -0.8, and -3.0 kPa by adjusting the applied pressure (hydrostatic head) to the nutrient solution flowing through the microporous tubes. A relatively small decrease in applied water potential from -0.4 to -3.0 kPa resulted in a 34% reduction of shoot growth but only a moderate reduction in the midday leaf water potential from -1.3 to -1.7 MPa. Carbon dioxide assimilation decreased and water use efficiency increased with the more negative applied water potentials, while intercellular CO2 concentration remained constant. This was associated with a decrease in stomatal conductance to water vapor from 1.90 to 0.98 mol/(sq m sec) and a decrease in total apparent hydraulic conductance from 47 to 12 (micro)mol/(sec MPa). Although the applied water potentials were in the -0.4 to -3.0 kPa range, the actual water potential perceived by the plant roots appeared to be in the range of -0.26 to -0.38 MPa as estimated by the leaf water potential of bagged plants. The amount of K, Ca, Mg, Zn, Cu, and B accumulated with each unit of transpired water increased as the applied water potential became less negative. The increase in accumulation ranged from 1.4-fold for K to 2.2-fold for B. The physiological responses observed in this study in response to small constant differences in applied water potentials were much greater than expected from either the applied water potential or the observed plant water potential. Even though the micro-porous tube may not represent natural conditions and could possibly introduce morphological and physiological artifacts, it enables a high degree of control of water potential that facilitates the investigation of many aspects of water relations not practical with other experimental systems.

Berry, Wade L.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Monitoring and control technologies for bioregenerative life support systems/CELSS

The development of a controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) will require NASA to develop innovative monitoring and control technologies to operate the different components of the system. Primary effort over the past three to four years has been directed toward the development of technologies to operate a biomass production module. Computer hardware and software required to operate, collect, and summarize environmental data for a large plant growth chamber facility were developed and refined. Sensors and controls required to collect information on such physical parameters as relative humidity, temperature, irradiance, pressure, and gases in the atmosphere; and PH, dissolved oxygen, fluid flow rates, and electrical conductivity in the nutrient solutions are being developed and tested. Technologies required to produce high artificial irradiance for plant growth and those required to collect and transport natural light into a plant growth chamber are also being evaluated. Significant effort was directed towards the development and testing of a membrane nutrient delivery system required to manipulate, seed, and harvest crops, and to determine plant health prior to stress impacting plant productivity are also being researched. Tissue culture technologies are being developed for use in management and propagation of crop plants. Though previous efforts have focussed on development of technologies required to operate a biomass production module for a CELSS, current efforts are expanding to include technologies required to operate modules such as food preparation, biomass processing, and resource (waste) recovery which are integral parts of the CELSS.

Knott, William M.↗

NASA NTRS1990

The CELSS breadboard project: Plant production

NASA's Breadboard Project for the Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) program is described. The simplified schematic of a CELSS is given. A modular approach is taken to building the CELSS Breadboard. Each module is researched in order to develop a data set for each one prior to its integration into the complete system. The data being obtained from the Biomass Production Module or the Biomass Production Chamber is examined. The other primary modules, food processing and resource recovery or waste management, are discussed briefly. The crew habitat module is not discussed. The primary goal of the Breadboard Project is to scale-up research data to an integrated system capable of supporting one person in order to establish feasibility for the development and operation of a CELSS. Breadboard is NASA's first attempt at developing a large scale CELSS.

Knott, William M.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Activation of a controlled ecological life support system (CELSS) breadboard facility - Wheat growth studies

NASA's Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) will include subsystems for biomass production, food processing, and waste management in space. This paper discusses the CELSS Breadboard program, which is a research project for integration and evaluation of concepts and techniques of the CELSS facility, with special attention given to the Biomass Production Chamber (BPC). The design of the BPC and of its subsystems for nutrient delivery, atmospheric control, and computer control are discussed together with the subsystem control and monitoring parameter requirements. Results from preliminary wheat-growth tests in the BPC are included.

Knott, William M.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Design and performance of the KSC Biomass Production Chamber

NASA's Controlled Ecological Life Support System program has instituted the Kennedy Space Center 'breadboard' project of which the Biomass Production Chamber (BPC) presently discussed is a part. The BPC is based on a modified hypobaric test vessel; its design parameters and operational parameters have been chosen in order to meet a wide range of plant-growing objectives aboard future spacecraft on long-duration missions. A control and data acquisition subsystem is used to maintain a common link between the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system, the illumination system, the gas-circulation system, and the nutrient delivery and monitoring subsystems.

Prince, Ralph P.↗