GROWING BEYOND EARTH (YEAR 2)
Growing plants aboard spacecraft consumes valuable space and
requires regular maintenance. The Growing Beyond Earth project
team is developing a microgravity-compatible plant growth chamber
that maximizes production in a constrained volume. For the design
portion of our project, we have so far achieved a fourfold
increase in space utilization compared to The Vegetable Production
System (Veggie) aboard the ISS. Our goal is to maintain or
efficientize this space utilization and automate our system’s
lighting, air circulation, and watering.
To that end, our project group is looking for developers and
mechanical engineers--proficiency in C/C++ or CAD are desirable.
Energy-Efficient Hydroponics System
GroTech @ Berkeley is a club for solving problems, building
towards solutions, and expanding into the possibilities found on
agriculture’s vast green horizons. The Hydroponics Team holds
these foundations dearly, as we incorporate the interdisciplinary
ideas of each of our group’s members into the development of this
new and exciting project. Typically as a means of gardening,
hydroponics is the idea of using water, instead of soil, to
deliver essential nutrients needed in cultivating plants.
With this knowledge functioning as our foundation over various
Zoom calls, the Hydroponics Team is committed to a defined purpose
for the future: to develop an energy efficient and self-sustaining
hydroponic model that can be adapted for various needs. Through
this purpose, the Hydroponics Team’s goal is to build a
technologically innovative system that demonstrates the viability
of hydroponics, not only as a means of at-home gardening, but also
for larger scale community gardens through developing a marketable
property. Through this innovative experience, each member of the
Hydroponic Team grows, as we advance each other's knowledge of
botany, microbiology, mechanics, and chemistry. This exchange of
knowledge surrounding the hydroponic system, the Hydroponics Team
seeks in the future to give back to the community by providing our
finished product as a method to enrich the education of middle
school and high school students, much like the very exchange of
concepts that bring each of us together.
But, in order to make our vision become reality, the Hydroponics Team must put to test our skills. At the Hydroponics Team, we will be applying and learning the following skills: woodworking, mechanical engineering, CAD design, and overall gardening knowledge. Most importantly, the desire to effectively create, communicate, and collaborate with others is what is valued on the Hydroponic Team. Thank you.
GROWING BEYOND EARTH MAKER CONTEST
The Growing Beyond Earth Maker Challenge (hosted by Fairchild
Tropic Botanical Garden), challenges makers from the high school,
college, and professional level to design, prototype, and
eventually build and test plant growth chambers optimized for
micro-gravity environments. Submissions take the form of
instructables and are judged by a panel of NASA botanists. Each
submission is standardized to growing red romaine lettuce, must
fit within a 50 cm cube, take into consideration lighting,
irrigation, and airflow, and improve upon some aspect of NASA's
current plant growth chamber, Veggie.
NASA's current design is capable of sustaining 6 plants, all of
which are grown on the same plane. To fully utilize the vertical
space provided, our team devised a solution consisting of 3
layers, 2 of which would articulate based on the growth cycles of
the lettuce. Such a design would allow our team to sustain 18
plants in perfect conditions, which is 12 more than NASA's Veggie.
Our team began the prototyping process by constructing a to-scale,
unpowered wooden model of our proposed design. From there, we
installed LED strips and a fan to provide plants with light and
circulation respectively, as well as light and temperature sensors
to monitor the growing environment.
At this stage, we also began prototyping calcined clay based
plant pots, which receive water through a felt-based wicking system.
Our plants pots were then placed inside of our wooden frame so that
we could monitor the growing phases of the lettuce and research the
conditions in which they would grow properly.
The design that succeed our wooden prototype bore the name
SeedShuttle. Rather than sustaining plants on different platforms in
a vertical configuration, plants grew out of a central pillar toward
the edge of the frame in a radial configuration. Not only did this
allow for a higher growing capacity, but features such as staggered
growth phases, automation, air circulation, and lighting all became
far simpler to implement. Rather than strictly using wood, we
constructed the frame out of more durable materials, such as MDF and
aluminum.
This design constituted our Phase 1 submission for the Growing
Beyond Earth Maker Contest.