[Pre-flight ground studies for the Water Offset Nutrient Delivery Experiment (WONDER): a spaceflight payload comparing two nutrient delivery systems for plant growth in space]
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NASA Discipline Life Support Systems↗
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A recirculating hydroponic system for studying peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.)
Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) plants were grown hydroponically, using continuously recirculating nutrient solution. Two culture tray designs were tested; one tray design used only nutrient solution, while the other used a sphagnum-filled pod development compartment just beneath the cover and above the nutrient solution. Both trays were fitted with slotted covers to allow developing gynophores to reach the root zone. Peanut seed yields averaged 350 gm-2 dry mass, regardless of tray design, suggesting that substrate is not required for hydroponic peanut production.
NASA Center KSC↗
Johnson Space Center's Regenerative Life Support Systems Test Bed
The Regenerative Life Support Systems (RLSS) Test Bed at NASA's Johnson Space Center is an atmospherically closed, controlled environment facility for human testing of regenerative life support systems using higher plants in conjunction with physicochemical life support systems. The facility supports NASA's Advanced Life Support (ALS) Program. The facility is comprised of two large scale plant growth chambers, each with approximately 11 m2 growing area. The root zone in each chamber is configurable for hydroponic or solid media plant culture systems. One of the two chambers, the Variable Pressure Growth Chamber (VPGC), is capable of operating at lower atmospheric pressures to evaluate a range of environments that may be used in a planetary surface habitat; the other chamber, the Ambient Pressure Growth Chamber (APGC) operates at ambient atmospheric pressure. The air lock of the VPGC is currently being outfitted for short duration (1 to 15 day) human habitation at ambient pressures. Testing with and without human subjects will focus on 1) integration of biological and physicochemical air and water revitalization systems; 2) effect of atmospheric pressure on system performance; 3) planetary resource utilization for ALS systems, in which solid substrates (simulated planetary soils or manufactured soils) are used in selected crop growth studies; 4) environmental microbiology and toxicology; 5) monitoring and control strategies; and 6) plant growth systems design. Included are descriptions of the overall design of the test facility, including discussions of the atmospheric conditioning, thermal control, lighting, and nutrient delivery systems.
NASA Discipline Number 61-10↗
Potato growth in a porous tube water and nutrient delivery system
Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) cv. 'Norland', vegetative growth and tuber productivity grown in the porous water and nutrient delivery system (PTNDS) developed by the Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics were compared with the vegetative growth and tuber productivity of plants grown in a peat:vermiculite potting mixture (PT/VR). The plants were grown at 12, 16, and 24-h light periods, 18 degrees C constant temperature, 70% relative humidity, and 300 micromol m-2 s-1 photosynthetic photon flux. Canopy height of plants grown in the PT/VR system was taller than that of plants grown in the PTNDS system. Canopy height differences were greatest when the plants were grown under a 24-h photoperiod. Leaf and stem dry masses were similar for plants grown in the two systems under the 12-h photoperiod. Under the 24-h photoperiod, leaf and stem dry masses of plants grown in the PT/VR system were more than 3 times those of plants grown in the PTNDS system. Tuber dry masses were similar for plants grown in the two systems under the 12-h photoperiod. Under the 24 h-photoperiod, tuber dry weights of plants grown in the PT/VR system were more than twice those of plants grown in the PTNDS system. A slightly higher harvest index (ratio of tuber weight to leaf plus stem weight) was noted for the plants grown in the PTNDS than for the plants grown in the PT/VR system. Plants grown in the PTNDS system at the 24-h photoperiod matured earlier than plants grown at this photoperiod in the PT/VR system. Vegetative growth and tuber productivity of plants grown under the 16-h photoperiod generally were intermediate to those noted for plants grown under the 12 and 24-h photoperiods. These results indicate that potato plants grown in a PTNDS system may require less plant growing volume, mature in a shorter time, and likely produce more tubers per unit area compared with plants grown in the PT/VR system. These plant characteristics are a distinct advantage for a plant growing unit of a CELSS.
Non-NASA Center↗
Optimization of moisture content for wheat seedling germination in a cellulose acetate medium for a space flight experiment
The Porous Tube Plant Nutrient Delivery System (PTPNDS), a hydrophilic, microporous ceramic tube hydroponic system designed for microgravity, will be tested in a middeck locker of the Space Shuttle. The flight experiment will focus on hardware operation and assess its ability to support seed germination and early seedling growth in microgravity. The water controlling system of the PTPNDS hardware has been successfully tested during the parabolic flight of the KC-135. One challenge to the development of the space flight experiment was to devise a method of holding seeds to the cylindrical porous tube. The seed-holder must provide water and air to the seed, absorb water from the porous tube, withstand sterilization, provide a clear path for shoots and roots to emerge, and be composed of flight qualified materials. In preparation for the flight experiment, a wheat seed-holder has been designed that utilizes a cellulose acetate plug to facilitate imbibition and to hold the wheat seeds in contact with the porous tube in the correct orientation during the vibration of launch and the microgravity environment of orbit. Germination and growth studies with wheat at a range of temperatures showed that optimal moisture was 78% (by weight) in the cellulose acetate seed holders. These and other design considerations are discussed.
NASA Discipline Number 61-20↗
Capillary movement of liquid in granular beds in microgravity
A more complete understanding of the dynamics of capillary flow through an unsaturated porous medium would be useful for the development of an effective water and nutrient delivery system for the growth of plants in space. An experiment was conducted on the Mir Space Station that used an experimental cuvette called "Capillary Test Bed" to compare fluid migration under terrestrial laboratory conditions by positioning the cuvette such that the hydrostatic force is negated and on Mir under microgravity conditions. Differences in fluid migration in the cuvette were observed with migration being slower in microgravity compared with some ground control experiments.
Mir Project↗
Seed-to-seed growth of Arabidopsis thaliana on the International Space Station
The assembly of the International Space Station (ISS) as a permanent experimental outpost has provided the opportunity for quality plant research in space. To take advantage of this orbital laboratory, engineers and scientists at the Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics (WCSAR), University of Wisconsin-Madison, developed a plant growth facility capable of supporting plant growth in the microgravity environment. Utilizing this Advanced Astroculture (ADVASC) plant growth facility, an experiment was conducted with the objective to grow Arabidopsis thaliana plants from seed-to-seed on the ISS. Dry Arabidopsis seeds were anchored in the root tray of the ADVASC growth chamber. These seeds were successfully germinated from May 10 until the end of June 2001. Arabidopsis plants grew and completed a full life cycle in microgravity. This experiment demonstrated that ADVASC is capable of providing environment conditions suitable for plant growth and development in microgravity. The normal progression through the life cycle, as well as the postflight morphometric analyses, demonstrate that Arabidopsis thaliana does not require the presence of gravity for growth and development. c2003 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
ISS Project↗
Uniformity of environmental conditions and plant growth in a hydroponic culture system for use in a growth room with aerial CO2 control
A portable system of hydroponic culture was developed that maintained temperature, pH, and nutrient concentrations of circulating nutrient solutions. The hydroponic system is used within a controlled-environment room (CER) for control of aerial environment. The CER was equipped with an auto-calibrating system for atmospheric CO2 control. The control systems for the hydroponic chambers were able to maintain acidity within +/- 0.2 pH units and the temperature with +/- 0.5 degree C. Mixing time for the 200-liter volume of solution within a hydroponic chamber was less than 12 min. The CO2 control system was able to maintain aerial concentrations within +/- 10 ppm CO2 during the light period. The only gradient found to occur within the hydroponic chambers or CER was a slight gradient in aerial temperature along the length of hydroponic chambers. Growth of soybeans [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] was characterized during a 3-week period of vegetative development by leaf number and area, plant dry weight, total N content of plants, and N depletion from the nutrient solution. The growth characteristics among populations for three hydroponic chambers within the CER were not significantly different, and the percent standard errors of means of the measurements within populations from each chamber were nearly all less than 10%. Thus, the uniformity of plant growth reflected the uniformity of environmental conditions.
NASA Discipline Life Support Systems↗