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27 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Space Crop Production Gaps and Challenges

As astronauts venture farther from Earth, and stay for longer periods, the space food system will increase in importance. Crop production can supplement a pre-packaged space diet to provide nutrition and dietary variety for space crews. In future missions, bioregenerative approaches may be used to generate a larger percentage of the diet, as well as help to reduce life support system burdens and resupply from Earth. Plants may also provide behavioral health benefits to crew members living in the isolated, confined environment of a space habitat. A number of unique challenges exist for growth of plants in microgravity and on other reduced gravity surfaces like the moon and Mars. Testing plant growth inside the Veggie and Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) chambers on the International Space Station is allowing us to understand the impacts of gravity and spaceflight on crop growth, nutritional content, acceptability, and the importance of plants to astronauts living and working away from Earth. We are also gaining a better understanding of food safety concerns and the behavior of space plant microbiomes and plant pathogens, but major gaps in knowledge remain. As we move from research towards operational space crop production to enable exploration, there are numerous gaps in technology, knowledge, and practice related to space crop growth that must be addressed. Research and development in key focus areas such as effective water and nutrient delivery at variable gravity levels, autonomous plant health monitoring, growth system cleaning and disinfection, and selection of ideal space crops are needed to fill these gaps. Breeding or engineering custom space crops may impact areas including plant growth and development, plant physiology, produce nutrition, organoleptic acceptability, and post-harvest characteristics, and these may further enable space crop production scenarios. Space crop challenges are multifaceted and require diverse interdisciplinary teams working together to develop effective solutions. Solving these requires an array of skill sets from across the biological and physical sciences, engineering, and human social sciences. Solutions to help ensure food security off-Earth may also translate to more sustainable terrestrial crop production approaches, and regular dialog between industry, academia, and government organizations working in related fields benefit all. Additional help can come from engagement with student researchers at various levels through courses, participatory science projects, and open science activities which can provide useful data. Global coordination and integration between space agencies and partners will be essential.

Gioia Massa↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

RGB Imaging as a Tool to Monitor Indoor Crop Plant Production

Future crop production in space will require robust monitoring technologies that can optimize crop yield, reduce waste, and generate data for an automated plant growth design. Imaging has been suggested as a tool for measuring plant health, yet imaging systems for indoor crops have not been tested in spaceflight. Fortunately, RGB images of crop plants growing inside the Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) aboard the ISS have already been captured. In ground-based studies, the Kennedy Space Center (NASA, KSC) is collaborating with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA ARS) to develop an imaging system for monitoring indoor crop plant health. In one study, we applied a drought stress to ‘Dragoon’ lettuce plants over a period of 14 days and captured RGB images in 24 h increments. Images were analyzed, and by applying a difference index, the images were able to be used to detect the drought stress in lettuce. This difference index was then applied to RGB images collected inside the APH ground unit for a pre-flight experiment growing ‘Outredgous’ lettuce under different substrate moisture conditions, and results showed that the RGB camera was capable of detecting drought stress inside the spaceflight plant growth hardware. These results suggest that RGB cameras already deployed to space may offer valuable information for monitoring plant production in extraterrestrial environments. This research was supported by NASA’s space biology program.

Rachel Tucker↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Preflight Definition and Verification Testing for the Plant Habitat-07 Experiment to Study Substrate Moisture Impacts on Lettuce Plant and Microbiome Development

Delivering adequate water and oxygen to root zones of crops growing in microgravity is challenging due to the complex behavior of fluids and gasses during spaceflight. Chronic excess (flood) or insufficient (drought) water levels, or intermittent watering and wilting of plants, leads to alterations in plant growth and impacts on the nutritional and microbial composition of those plants. PH-07 will apply controlled water stress to assess and quantify changes in plant growth and the microbiome of a well-tested food crop, ‘Outredgeous’ red romaine lettuce, grown in NASA’s Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) on the ISS.

Gioia Massa↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Space Crop Production Gaps and Challenges

As astronauts venture farther from Earth, and stay for longer periods, the space food system will increase in importance. Crop production can supplement a pre-packaged space diet to provide nutrition and dietary variety for space crews. In future missions, bioregenerative approaches may be used to generate a larger percentage of the diet, as well as help to reduce life support system burdens and resupply from Earth. Plants may also provide behavioral health benefits to crew members living in the isolated, confined environment of a space habitat. A number of unique challenges exist for growth of plants in microgravity and on other reduced gravity surfaces like the moon and Mars. Testing with the Veggie and Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) chambers on the International Space Station is allowing us to understand the impacts of gravity and spaceflight on crop growth, nutritional content, acceptability, and the importance of plants to astronauts living and working away from Earth. We are also gaining a better understanding of food safety concerns and the behavior of space plant microbiomes and plant pathogens, but major gaps in knowledge remain. As we move from research towards operational space crop production to enable exploration, there are numerous gaps in technology, knowledge, and practice related to space crop growth that must be addressed.

Gioia Massa↗
NASA NTRS2018

Hydroponics for Food Production in Space: History and Current Efforts

Goals of Food Production in Space: NASA Human Research Program (HRP) near-term food production systems - supplement key nutrients (Vitamins B1,C, K and potassium) that degrade to inadequate levels on exploration class missions; Study behavioral health aspect - caring for plants and improving the acceptability of the astronaut diet by supplementing it with fresh produce (currently anecdotal); Develop sustainable water delivery technologies - current TRL (Technological Readiness Level) 9 particulate based systems (i.e. used in research conducted in plant growth facilities APH (Advanced Plant Habitat), Veggie, BPS (Biomass Production System), LADA/SVET (Russian space plant chamber systems)) require resupply of bulky consumables and generate waste media.

Dreschel, T.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Smart Crop Farming Systems for Artemis Exploration Missions

Space crop production systems that mitigate risks of crew poor performance or illness due to inadequate food and nutrition are needed during manned Artemis exploration missions beyond LEO. Prototype farms must be designed for deployment on ISS and tested in manned platforms: Gateway, lunar habitats, and Mars trans-hab spacecraft in preparation for human missions to Mars. Food production must be optimal and safe for human consumption. Thus, plant growth facilities (i.e. Veggie and APH) can be enhanced with imaging systems (including hyperspectral, multispectral, lidar, and fluorescence imaging systems) for nondestructive monitoring of plant health, stress and assessing food safety. Databases of crop responses to stress obtained during ground studies can be used to develop novel artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms for optimizing crop production (i.e. environmental settings during growth) and for detecting crop indices that ensure food safety. Future farming systems should be sustainable and smart. Novel adaptive AI algorithms requiring limited data sets for calibration are needed for reducing crew intervention during plant cultivation except for maintenance and harvesting events. Eventually, AI driven control systems that include autonomous planting, growing, and harvesting as well as periodic sanitization need evaluation for supplementing crew diets with fresh produce during future Mars exploration missions.

O Monje↗