NASA NTRS · 20205004098
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Gioia Massa. Growing Plants In Space. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20205004098
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An article for the SMD tech highlights discussing the KSC IRTD Microgreens Root Zone/Shoot Zone Separator Planting Box project and corresponding parabolic flight testing. Harvesting and containment technologies for microgreens may allow astronauts to add these delicious, nutritious crops to their space diet.
The Space Crop Production (SCP) at the NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is aimed at achieving nutrient supplementation and moving towards caloric independence from Earth by growing crops for astronauts. However, growing crops outside of Earth’s orbit creates many new challenges. The KCS SCP Project Scientists have developed a method of organizing these challenges, called the Gaps List. This Gaps List is a dynamic, taxonomically arranged list of missing knowledge and technologies needed to reach production goals. The purpose of this evaluation was to assess the effectiveness and current research coverage of the Gaps List by using it to document the KSC SCP Program research. In evaluating the research, it was determined that several needs within the SCP Program that are not being met, and many deficiencies within the Gaps List were encountered. Gaps involving hardware were largely unrecognized by the KSC researchers and the funding sources that would typically support them. The KSC SCP Project will require more engineering and physical sciences support to close those gaps. The Gaps List was found to be out of date and in need of rearrangement. A recommendation from this review was that the Gaps List be reassessed at regular intervals to ensure all gaps and relevant research topics are included. In order to better understand the gaps within the list, any assessment needs to include a measure of priority, dependency and breadth. These measures may be included within or along side the current taxonomical arrangement of the Gaps List.
Beginning in 2016, the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) internship program for life sciences was re-envisioned. Rather than hosting interns in the summer only with numerous innovative small projects, the current model is to offer internship opportunities every semester, so that research is continuous and sustained. Since 2016 we have had 64 internship opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students in space crop production and microgravity simulation. 52 separate individuals have participated in this program, with some participating in more than one term. While interns primarily worked with individual mentors on a main project, most also worked on group projects or developed smaller secondary projects on their own initiative. Additionally, interns participated in a weekly Lunch, Learn, and Discuss seminar series where they presented their research, learned from scientists at KSC, and engaged with members of the space life sciences community. When the face-to-face spring 2020 internship ended prematurely, the weekly seminar series continued as a virtual event, which led to the concept of engaging former interns. Current and former interns were invited to participate in the on-going virtual series, and 46 asked to be included on the mailing list. Our current seminar series involves remote seminars from contacts within and outside of the agency, and engages a large network of current scientists and former interns with weekly participation averaging ~40 people. Speakers include experts from industry, academia, and other space agencies working on topics of interest to KSC researchers. This series has also served as a brainstorming platform for KSC scientists to discuss new ideas and concepts and invite feedback. Remote work and virtual platforms have allowed engagement in a new way that will continue as future interns are integrated into this network of individuals interested in space research. This work is funded by NASA’s Space Biology Program.