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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1997

Evaluation of an Anaerobic Digestion System for Processing CELSS Crop Residues for Resource Recovery

Three bioreactors, connected in series, were used to process CELSS potato residues for recovery of resources. The first stage was an anaerobic digestor (8 L working volume; cow rumen contents inoculum; fed-batch; 8 day retention time; feed rate 25 gdw/day) that converted 33% of feed (dry weight loss) to CO2 and "volatile fatty acids" (vfa, 83:8:8 mmolar ratio acetic:propionic:butyric). High nitrate-N in the potato residue feed was absent in the anaerobic effluent, with a high portion converted to NH4(+)-N and the remainder unaccounted and probably lost to denitrification and NH4(+) volatilization. Liquid anaerobic effluent was fed to an aerobic, yeast biomass production vessel (2 L volume; Candida ingens inoculum; batch [pellicle] growth; 2 day retention time) where the VFAs and some NH4(+)-N were converted into yeast biomass. Yeast yields accounted for up to 8% of potato residue fed into the anaerobic bioreactor. The third bioreactor (0.5 L liquid working volume; commercial nitrifier inoculum; packed-bed biofilm; continuous yeast effluent feed; recirculating; constant volume; 2 day hydraulic retention time) was used to convert successfully the remaining NH4(+)-N into nitrate-N (preferred form of N for CELSS crop production) and to remove the remaining degradable soluble organic carbon. Effluents from the last two stages were used for partial replenishment of minerals for hydroponic potato production.

Strayer, R. F.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Effect of Elevated Carbon Dioxide on Nutritional Quality of Tomato

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) cvs. Red Robin (RR) and Reimann Philipp (RP) were grown hydroponically for 105 d with a 12 h photoperiod, 26 C/22 C thermoperiod, and 500 micromol/ sq m/s PPF at either 400, 1200, 5000, or 10,000 micromol/mol (0.04, 0.12, 0.50, 1.00 kPa) CO2. Harvested fruits were analyzed for proximate composition, total dietary fiber, nitrate, and elemental composition. No trends were apparent with regard to CO2 effects on proximate composition, with fruit from all treatments and both cultivars averiging 18.9 % protein, 3.6 % fat, 10.2 % ash, and 67.2 % carbohydrate. In comparison, average values for field-grown fruit are 16.6 % protein, 3.8 % fat, 8.1 % ash, and 71.5 % carbohydrate (Duke and Atchely, 1986). Total dietary fiber was highest at 10,000 micromol/mol (28.4 % and 22.6 % for RR and RP) and lowest at 1000 micromol/mol (18.2 % and 15.9 % for RR and RP), but showed no overall trend in response to CO2. Nitrate values ranged from 0.19 % to 0.35 % and showed no trend with regard to CO2. K, Mg, and P concentrations showed no trend in response to CO2, but Ca levels increased from 198 and 956 ppm in RR and RP at 400 micromol/mol, to 2537 and 2825 ppm at 10,000 micromol/mol. This increase in Ca caused an increase in fruit Ca/P ratios from 0.07 and 0.37 for RR and RP at 400 micromol/molto 0.99 and 1.23 for RR and RP at 10,000 micromol/mol suggesting that more dietary Ca should be available from high CO2-grown fruit.

Wheeler, R. M.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Measurement of Effective Canopy Temperature: The Missing Link to Modeling Transpiration in Controlled Environments

The objectives were to apply energy balance principles to plant canopies, and to determine which parameters are essential for predicting plant canopy transpiration (E) in controlled environments. Transpiration was accurately measured in a gas-exchange system. Absorbed radiation (R(sub abs)) by the canopy was measured with a net radiometer and calculated from short and long-wave radiation components. Average canopy foliar temperature T(sub L) can be measured with an infrared radiometer, but since T(sub L) is seldom uniform, a weighed average measurement of T(sub L) must be made. The effective canopy temperature T(sub C) is that temperature that balances the energy flux between absorbed radiation and latent heat L(sub E) and sensible heat (H) fluxes. TC should exactly equal air temperature T(sub A) when L(sub E) equals R(sub abs). When unnecessary thermal radiation from the lighting system is removed by a water filter, the magnitude of L(sub E) from transpiration approaches Rabs and T(sub C) is close to T(sub A). Unlike field models, we included the energy used in photosynthesis and found that up to 10% of Rabs was used in photosynthesis. We calculated aerodynamic conductance for H from measurements of wind speed and canopy height using the wind profile equation. Canopy aerodynamic conductance ranged from.03 to.04 m/s for wind speeds from.6 to 1 m/s; thus a 0.1 C canopy to air temperature difference results in a sensible heat flux of about 4 W/sq m, which is only 1% of R(sub abs). We examined the ability of wide angle infrared transducers to accurately integrate T(sub L) from the top to the bottom of the canopy. We measured evaporation from the hydroponic media to be approximately 1 micro mol/sq m s or 10% of R(sub abs). This result indicates that separating evaporation from transpiration is more important than exact measurement of canopy temperature.

Monje, O. A.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Monitoring the Photosynthetic Apparatus During Space Flight: Interspecific Variation in Chlorophyll Fluorescence Signatures Induced by Different Root Zone Stresses

Chlorophyll fluorescence has been used extensively as a tool to indicate stress to the photosynthetic apparatus in green plants. A rise in fluorescence has been attributed to the blockage of photosystem II photochemistry, and patterns of fluorescence decay (quenching) from dark adapted leaves can be related to specific photochemical and non-photochemical deexcitation pathways of light trapped by the photosynthetic apparatus and thus result in characteristically different fluorescence signatures. Four distantly related plant species, Hypocharis radicata (Asteraceae), Brassica rapa (Brassicaceae), Spinacea oleracea (Chenopodiaceae) and Triticum aestivum (Poaceae), were grown hydroponically for three weeks before the initiation of three different root zone stresses (10 mM Cu, 100 mM NaCl and nitrogen deficient nutrition). After 10 days, characteristic fluorescence signatures for each stress could be noted although the degree varied between species. Fast kinetics analysis showed a reduction in plastoquinone pool size for copper and nitrogen stress for all species but a more species specific result with NaCl stress. Photochemical quenching kinetics varied between species and stress treatments from no quenching in S. oleracea in copper treatments to increased photochemical quenching in NaCl treatments. Non-photochemical quenching kinetics demonstrated a distinct pattern between stresses for all species. Copper treatments characteristically exhibited a shallow, flat non-photochemical quenching profile suggesting a general blockage of electron transport whereas NaCl treatments exhibited a slow rising profile that suggested damage to thylakoid acidification kinetics and nitrogen deficiency exhibited a fast rising and declining profile that suggested an altered state 1-state 2 transition regulated by the phosphorylation of LHCII. These results demonstrate characteristic fluorescence signatures for specific plant stresses that may be applied to different, unrelated plant species. In addition, the potential use of chlorophyll fluorescence for both basic research and diagnostic physiology in space biology is presented.

Bubenheim, David L.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Advanced Life Systems for Extreme Environments: An Arctic Application

The problems of obtaining adequate pure drinking water and disposing of liquid and solid waste in the U.S. Arctic, a region where virtually all water is frozen solid for much of the year, has led to unsanitary solutions (U.S. Arctic Research Commission). These solutions are also damaging to the environment. Sanitation and a safe water supply are particularly problems in rural villages. About one-fourth of Alaska's 86.000 Native residents live in these communities. They are without running water and use plastic buckets for toilets. The outbreak of diseases is believed to be partially attributable to exposure to human waste. Villages with the most frequent outbreaks of disease are those in which running water is difficult to obtain (Office of Technology Assessment, 1994). Waste is emptied into open lagoons, rivers, or onto the sea coast. It does not degrade rapidly and in addition to affecting human health, can be harmful to the fragile ecology of the Arctic and the indigenous wildlife and fish populations. Advanced Life Systems for Extreme Environments (ALSEE) provides a solution to sanitation and safe water problems. The system uses an advanced integrated technology developed for Antarctic and space applications. ALSEE uses the systems approach to address more than waste and water problems. By incorporating hydroponic horticulture and aquaculture into the waste treatment system, ALSEE addresses the quality and quantity of fresh foods available to Arctic residents. A temperate climate is required for year-round plant growth. ALSEE facilities can be designed to include a climate controlled area within the structure. This type of environment is a change from the long periods of darkness and cold found in the Arctic and can help alleviate stress so often associated with these extremes. While the overall concept of ALSEE projects is advanced, system facilities can be operated by village residents with appropriate training. ALSEE provides continuing training and education as a part of the project. Not only is this desirable but necessary. There is ample evidence in "gravoyard" throughout rural Alaska of technologies which failed not because they were not applic4tble, but because they were not integrated and could not be operated or repaired by village residents. Waste streams in villages will vary depending on the human diet and the non-food waste stream. ALSEE units can be adapted to different village situations once the content of the waste stream is known. Units located in population hubs can serve as research, education. and demonstration centers. Appropriate modifications can be determined at these centers to transfer technology to more remote locations where waste stream conditions may differ.

Lewis, Carol E.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Significance of Plant Root Microorganisms in Reclaiming Water in CELSS

Since many microorganisms demonstrate the ability to quickly break down complex mixtures of waste and environmental contaminants, examining their potential use for water recycling in a closed environment is appealing. Water contributes approximately 90 percent of the life sustaining provisions in a human space habitat. Nearly half of the daily water requirements will be used for personal hygiene and dish washing. The primary contaminants of the used "gray" water will be the cleansing agents or soaps used to carry out these functions. Reclaiming water from the gray water waste streams is one goal of the NASA program, Controlled Ecological Life Support Systems (CELSS). The microorganisms of plane roots are well documented to be of a beneficial effect to promote plant growth. Most plants exhibit a range of bacteria and fungi which can be highly plant-specific. In our investigations with lettuce grown in hydroponic culture, we identified a microflora of normal rhizosphere. When the roots were exposed to an anionic surfactant, the species diversity changed, based on morphological characteristics, with the numbers of species being reduced from 7 to 2 after 48 hours of exposure. In addition, the species that became dominant in the presence of the anionic surfactant also demonstrated a dramatic increase in population density which corresponded to the degradation of the surfactant in the root zone. The potential for using these or other rhizosphere bacteria as a primary or secondary waste processor is promising, but a number of issues still warrant investigation; these include but are not limited to: (1) the full identification of the microbes, (2) the classes of surfactants the microbes will degrade, (3) the environmental conditions required for optimal processing efficiency and (4) the ability of transferring the microbes to a non-living solid matrix such as a bioreactor.

Bubenheim, David L.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Adsorption and Processes in Spacecraft Environmental Control and Life Support Systems

The environmental control and life support system on a spacecraft must maintain a safe and comfortable environment in which the crew can live and work. The system's functions include supplying the crew with oxygen and water, as well as removing carbon dioxide, water vapor, and trace contaminants from cabin air. Although open-loop systems have been used in the past, logistics and safety factors of current and future missions in space make near-complete recycling of the cabin's air and water desirable. The recycling process may include separation and reduction of carbon dioxide, removal of trace gas-phase contaminants, recovery and purification of humidity condensate, purification and polishing of wastewater streams, and other processes. Several of these operations can be performed totally or in part by adsorption processes. Adsorption processes are frequently good candidates for separation and purification in space by virtue of such characteristics as gravity independence, high reliability, relatively high energy efficiency, design flexibility, technological maturity, and regenerability. For these reasons, adsorption has historically played a key role in life support on U.S. and Russian piloted spacecraft. This article focuses on three current spacecraft life support applications that often use adsorption technology: carbon dioxide separation from cabin air, gas-phase trace contaminant control, and potable water recovery from waste streams. In each application, adsorption technology has been selected for use on the International Space Station. The requirements, science, and hardware for each application are discussed. Eventually, human space exploration may lead to construction of planetary habitats. These habitats may have additional applications, such as control of greenhouse gas composition and purification of hydroponic solutions, and may have different requirements and resources available to them, such as gases present in the planetary atmosphere. Adsorption separation and purification processes may continue to fulfill environmental control and life support needs well into the future.

Dall-Bauman, Liese↗
NASA NTRS2001

Turning Gas into Greens

Scientists from Cook College, Rutgers University, and Stevens Institute of Technology conducted studies to create an experimental greenhouse that uses methane from decomposing trash to fuel a system that makes food. Biogasses created by the anaerobically decomposing trash are necessary to fulfill the energy needs of this revolutionary greenhouse. The primary emission, methane, is piped to the greenhouse boiler and used to fuel the hot water heating system. Thus far, the use of biogas has drastically reduced the operating costs of the greenhouse, eliminating the need for non-renewable fuels. The biogas will also generate electricity for the greenhouse in the near future. The plants are irrigated with recycled plant nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. These nutrients are delivered through hydroponics, the cultivation of plants in a nutrient solution rather than in soil. High-pressure sodium lamps augment the natural light, thereby boosting production and reducing cropping time. A total of 16 hours of light are provided to the crop each day, year-round. It only takes about 90 days for a seed to germinate and produce a tomato harvest. Not only is the food produced faster, the manual labor needed for the upkeep of the plants is also drastically reduced.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2002

Sweetpotato Stem Cuttings Database in Preparation for Flight

Since 1985, Tuskegee University has been engaged in research that addresses NASA's mission to achieve long-duration human space exploration on the moon and Mars. The successful research of Dr. George Washington Carver, the beginning of our long history of working with crops for food and industrial uses, is well known. This history and contemporary technical expertise in food/industrial crops, and our interest in pursuing new, interdisciplinary approaches to education and research led us to submit a proposal to NASA in 1985 to pursue the hydroponic production of sweetpotato for food for astronaut-explorers on future long-term, distant space missions. As a carbohydrate and dual vegetable (edible leaves), the versatile sweetpotato has the potential to be a key crop as a main source of energy and other nutrients such as beta-carotene, calcium and potassium. Sweetpotato is a crop very suited to space, as was documented in a monograph published by our scientists in 1984.

Mortley, Desmond G.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Sensors for Environmental Control

Under a Kennedy Space Center Small Business Innovation Research contract, GEO-CENTERS, Inc. developed a sensing element or 'optrode,' which NASA needed for space life support research to measure a hydroponic culture's pH factor. The company then commercialized the technology in the PC Based pH Monitoring System. The system employs the optrode to enable long term continuous monitoring of the pH level of fluids in standing and flowing conditions, an optoelectronic board with light sensors and detectors that fits into a desktop computer, and a fiber optic cable that connects the two. The system is effective in monitoring the pH output of industries to maintain ranges acceptable to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1990

Plant Research

The Land's agricultural research team is testing new ways to sustain life in space as a research participant with Kennedy Space Center's Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS). The Land, sponsored by Kraft General Foods, is an entertainment, research, and education facility at EPCOT Center, part of Walt Disney World. The cooperative effort is simultaneously a research and development program, a technology demonstration that provides the public to see high technology at work and an area of potential spinoff: the CELSS work may generate Earth use technology beneficial to the hydroponic (soilless growing) vegetable production industries of the world.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1993

The Preliminary Design of a Universal Martian Lander

As part of the NASA/USRA program, nineteen West Virginia University students conducted a preliminary design of a manned Universal Martian Lander (UML). The WVU design considers descent to Mars from polar orbit, a six month surface stay, and ascent for rendezvous. The design begins with an unmanned UML landing at Elysium Mons followed by the manned UML landing nearby. During the six month surface stay, the eight modules are assembled to form a Martian base where scientific experiments are performed. The mission also incorporates hydroponic plant growth into a Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) for water recycling, food production, and to counteract psycho-logical effects of living on Mars. In situ fuel production for the Martian Ascent and Rendezvous Vehicle (MARV) is produced From gases in the Martian atmosphere. Following surface operations, the eight member crew uses the MARV to return to the Martian Transfer Vehicle (MTV) for the journey home to Earth.

Norman, Timothy L.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Crop Production for Advanced Life Support Systems - Observations From the Kennedy Space Center Breadboard Project

The use of plants for bioregenerative life support for space missions was first studied by the US Air Force in the 1950s and 1960s. Extensive testing was also conducted from the 1960s through the 1980s by Russian researchers located at the Institute of Biophysics in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, and the Institute for Biomedical Problems in Moscow. NASA initiated bioregenerative research in the 1960s (e.g., Hydrogenomonas) but this research did not include testing with plants until about 1980, with the start of the Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) Program. The NASA CELSS research was carried out at universities, private corporations, and NASA field centers, including Kennedy Space Center (KSC). The project at KSC began in 1985 and was called the CELSS Breadboard Project to indicate the capability for plugging in and testing various life support technologies; this name has since been dropped but bioregenerative testing at KSC has continued to the present under the NASA s Advanced Life Support (ALS) Program. A primary objective of the KSC testing was to conduct pre-integration tests with plants (crops) in a large, atmospherically closed test chamber called the Biomass Production Chamber (BPC). Test protocols for the BPC were based on observations and growing procedures developed by university investigators, as well as procedures developed in plant growth chamber studies at KSC. Growth chamber studies to support BPC testing focused on plant responses to different carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations, different spectral qualities from various electric lamps, and nutrient film hydroponic culture techniques.

Wheeler, R. M.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Modeling and control for closed environment plant production systems

A computer program was developed to study multiple crop production and control in controlled environment plant production systems. The program simulates crop growth and development under nominal and off-nominal environments. Time-series crop models for wheat (Triticum aestivum), soybean (Glycine max), and white potato (Solanum tuberosum) are integrated with a model-based predictive controller. The controller evaluates and compensates for effects of environmental disturbances on crop production scheduling. The crop models consist of a set of nonlinear polynomial equations, six for each crop, developed using multivariate polynomial regression (MPR). Simulated data from DSSAT crop models, previously modified for crop production in controlled environments with hydroponics under elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, were used for the MPR fitting. The model-based predictive controller adjusts light intensity, air temperature, and carbon dioxide concentration set points in response to environmental perturbations. Control signals are determined from minimization of a cost function, which is based on the weighted control effort and squared-error between the system response and desired reference signal.

NASA Discipline Life Support Systems↗
NASA NTRS2002

Effect of hydraulic retention time on inorganic nutrient recovery and biodegradable organics removal in a biofilm reactor treating plant biomass leachate

A fixed-film (biofilm) reactor was designed and its performance was determined at various retention times. The goal was to find the optimal retention time for recycling plant nutrients in an advanced life support system, to minimize the size, mass, and volume (hold-up) of a production model. The prototype reactor was tested with aqueous leachate from wheat crop residue at 24, 12, 6, and 3 h hydraulic retention times (HRTs). Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), nitrates and other plant nutrients, carbohydrates, total phenolics, and microbial counts were monitored to characterize reactor performance. BOD removal decreased significantly from 92% at the 24 h HRT to 73% at 3 h. Removal of phenolics was 62% at the 24 h retention time, but 37% at 3 h. Dissolved oxygen concentrations, nitric acid consumption, and calcium and magnesium removals were also affected by HRT. Carbohydrate removals, carbon dioxide (CO2) productions, denitrification, potassium concentrations, and microbial counts were not affected by different retention times. A 6 h HRT will be used in future studies to determine the suitability of the bioreactor effluent for hydroponic plant production.

NASA Center KSC↗
NASA NTRS2001

Relative effectiveness of kinetic analysis vs single point readings for classifying environmental samples based on community-level physiological profiles (CLPP)

The relative effectiveness of average-well-color-development-normalized single-point absorbance readings (AWCD) vs the kinetic parameters mu(m), lambda, A, and integral (AREA) of the modified Gompertz equation fit to the color development curve resulting from reduction of a redox sensitive dye from microbial respiration of 95 separate sole carbon sources in microplate wells was compared for a dilution series of rhizosphere samples from hydroponically grown wheat and potato ranging in inoculum densities of 1 x 10(4)-4 x 10(6) cells ml-1. Patterns generated with each parameter were analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA) and discriminant function analysis (DFA) to test relative resolving power. Samples of equivalent cell density (undiluted samples) were correctly classified by rhizosphere type for all parameters based on DFA analysis of the first five PC scores. Analysis of undiluted and 1:4 diluted samples resulted in misclassification of at least two of the wheat samples for all parameters except the AWCD normalized (0.50 abs. units) data, and analysis of undiluted, 1:4, and 1:16 diluted samples resulted in misclassification for all parameter types. Ordination of samples along the first principal component (PC) was correlated to inoculum density in analyses performed on all of the kinetic parameters, but no such influence was seen for AWCD-derived results. The carbon sources responsible for classification differed among the variable types with the exception of AREA and A, which were strongly correlated. These results indicate that the use of kinetic parameters for pattern analysis in CLPP may provide some additional information, but only if the influence of inoculum density is carefully considered. c2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

NASA Center KSC↗
NASA NTRS2001

Greenhouse tomato limited cluster production systems: crop management practices affect yield

Limited-cluster production systems may be a useful strategy to increase crop production and profitability for the greenhouse tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill). In this study, using an ebb-and-flood hydroponics system, we modified plant architecture and spacing and determined the effects on fruit yield and harvest index at two light levels. Single-cluster plants pruned to allow two leaves above the cluster had 25% higher fruit yields than did plants pruned directly above the cluster; this was due to an increase in fruit weight, not fruit number. Both fruit yield and harvest index were greater for all single-cluster plants at the higher light level because of increases in both fruit weight and fruit number. Fruit yield for two-cluster plants was 30% to 40% higher than for single-cluster plants, and there was little difference in the dates or length of the harvest period. Fruit yield for three-cluster plants was not significantly different from that of two-cluster plants; moreover, the harvest period was delayed by 5 days. Plant density (5.5, 7.4, 9.2 plants/m2) affected fruit yield/plant, but not fruit yield/unit area. Given the higher costs for materials and labor associated with higher plant densities, a two-cluster crop at 5.5 plants/m2 with two leaves above the cluster was the best of the production system strategies tested.

Non-NASA Center↗
NASA NTRS1997

Super-optimal CO2 reduces seed yield but not vegetative growth in wheat

Although terrestrial atmospheric CO2 levels will not reach 1000 micromoles mol-1 (0.1%) for decades, CO2 levels in growth chambers and greenhouses routinely exceed that concentration. CO2 levels in life support systems in space can exceed 10000 micromoles mol-1(1%). Numerous studies have examined CO2 effects up to 1000 micromoles mol-1, but biochemical measurements indicate that the beneficial effects of CO2 can continue beyond this concentration. We studied the effects of near-optimal (approximately 1200 micromoles mol-1) and super-optimal CO2 levels (2400 micromoles mol-1) on yield of two cultivars of hydroponically grown wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in 12 trials in growth chambers. Increasing CO2 from sub-optimal to near-optimal (350-1200 micromoles mol-1) increased vegetative growth by 25% and seed yield by 15% in both cultivars. Yield increases were primarily the result of an increased number of heads per square meter. Further elevation of CO2 to 2500 micromoles mol-1 reduced seed yield by 22% (P < 0.001) in cv. Veery-10 and by 15% (P < 0.001) in cv. USU-Apogee. Super-optimal CO2 did not decrease the number of heads per square meter, but reduced seeds per head by 10% and mass per seed by 11%. The toxic effect of CO2 was similar over a range of light levels from half to full sunlight. Subsequent trials revealed that super-optimal CO2 during the interval between 2 wk before and after anthesis mimicked the effect of constant super-optimal CO2. Furthermore, near-optimal CO2 during the same interval mimicked the effect of constant near-optimal CO2. Nutrient concentration of leaves and heads was not affected by CO2. These results suggest that super-optimal CO2 inhibits some process that occurs near the time of seed set resulting in decreased seed set, seed mass, and yield.

NASA Discipline Life Support Systems↗