SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “plant”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 145 records · Page 8

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS2002

Toward Martian agriculture: responses of plants to hypobaria

The recent surge of interest in human missions to Mars has also generated considerable interest in the responses of plants to hypobaria (reduced atmospheric pressure), particularly among those in the advanced life support community. Potential for in situ resource utilization, challenges in meeting engineering constraints for mass and energy, the prospect of using lightweight plant growth structures on Mars, and the minimal literature on plant responses to low pressure all suggest much needed research in this area. However, the limited literature on hypobaria combined with previous findings on plant responses to atmospheric composition and established principles of mass transfer of gases suggest that some plants will be capable of tolerating and growing at pressures below 20 kPa; and for other species, perhaps as low as 5-10 kPa. In addition, normal and perhaps enhanced growth of many plants will likely occur at reduced partial pressures of oxygen (e.g., 5 kPa). Growth of plants at such low and partial pressures indicates the feasibility of cultivating plants in lightweight, transparent "greenhouses" on the surface of Mars or in other extraterrestrial or extreme environment locations. There are numerous, accessible terrestrial analogs for moderately low pressure ranges, but not for very low and extremely low atmospheric pressures. Research pertaining to very low pressures has been historically restricted to the use of vacuum chambers. Future research prospects, approaches, and priorities for plant growth experiments at low pressure are considered and discussed as they apply to prospects for Martian agriculture.

NASA Discipline Life Support Systems↗

NASA NTRS1991

Plants for water recycling, oxygen regeneration and food production

During long-duration space missions that require recycling and regeneration of life support materials the major human wastes to be converted to usable forms are CO2, hygiene water, urine and feces. A Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) relies on the air revitalization, water purification and food production capabilities of higher plants to rejuvenate human wastes and replenish the life support materials. The key processes in such a system are photosynthesis, whereby green plants utilize light energy to produce food and oxygen while removing CO2 from the atmosphere, and transpiration, the evaporation of water from the plant. CELSS research has emphasized the food production capacity and efforts to minimize the area/volume of higher plants required to satisfy all human life support needs. Plants are a dynamic system capable of being manipulated to favour the supply of individual products as desired. The size and energy required for a CELSS that provides virtually all human needs are determined by the food production capacity. Growing conditions maximizing food production do not maximize transpiration of water; conditions favoring transpiration and scaling to recycle only water significantly reduces the area, volume, and energy inputs per person. Likewise, system size can be adjusted to satisfy the air regeneration needs. Requirements of a waste management system supplying inputs to maintain maximum plant productivity are clear. The ability of plants to play an active role in waste processing and the consequence in terms of degraded plant performance are not well characterized. Plant-based life support systems represent the only potential for self sufficiency and food production in an extra-terrestrial habitat.

NASA Discipline Life Support Systems↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Plant Water Management in Microgravity

The NASA Plant Water Management (PWM) technology demonstrations aboard ISS apply recent advances in microgravity capillary fluidics research towards the mundane yet problematic challenges of simply watering plants in space. Plant growth in a low-g environment is often hampered by inadequate aeration and over-saturation of the root zone. The present effort aims to exploit the passive capillary forces of poorly wetting liquids (i.e., contaminated water) within unique system geometries that effectively replace the role of gravity in providing sufficient aeration and hydration for simulated plants. Several flight demonstrations have been completed on ISS, including soil and hydroponic models in single and parallel channel networks. Two future demonstrations are still in work and plan to further develop the system to handle sustained plant growth with additional sensors to monitor the growth environment. The results to date demonstrate proof-of-concept, system stability, limits of operation, and more, for simulated plant models. Eventually, real plants will be incorporated into these systems and tested on orbit. The implications are discussed in relation to plant growth facilities for further near-term microgravity plant science research as well as for automated food production for long duration human exploration missions.

microgravity↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Plants in Space and Space Crop Production

As astronauts venture farther from Earth, and for longer periods, the space food system will increase in importance. Crop production can supplement a packaged diet to provide additional nutrients and dietary variety for astronauts, and in future missions, bioregenerative approaches may be used to generate a larger percentage of the diet. Plants may also provide behavioural health benefits and assist with other life support functions. Several unique challenges exist for growth of plants in microgravity and on other planetary 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 behaviour of space plant microbiomes and plant pathogens. As we transition from research towards operational space crop production to enable human exploration, there are several gaps and challenges of growing crops in space that must be addressed. Research and technology development in key areas such as water and nutrient delivery, plant health monitoring, and crop selection are needed to overcome these challenges. Additionally, there are opportunities for breeding or engineering of custom space crops related to plant growth and development, plant physiology, produce nutrition, organoleptic acceptability, and post-harvest characteristics. Solutions to help ensure food security off-Earth may also translate to better approaches to terrestrial sustainable crop production.

Advanced Plant Habitat↗

NASA NTRS2023

Plants in Space and Space Crop Production

Advanced Plant Habitat↗

NASA NTRS1997

Anatomical features of pepper plants (Capsicum annuum L.) grown under red light-emitting diodes supplemented with blue or far-red light

Pepper plants (Capsicum annuum L. cv., Hungarian Wax) were grown under metal halide (MH) lamps or light-emitting diode (LED) arrays with different spectra to determine the effects of light quality on plant anatomy of leaves and stems. One LED (660) array supplied 90% red light at 660 nm (25nm band-width at half-peak height) and 1% far-red light between 700-800nm. A second LED (660/735) array supplied 83% red light at 660nm and 17% far-red light at 735nm (25nm band-width at half-peak height). A third LED (660/blue) array supplied 98% red light at 660nm, 1% blue light between 350-550nm, and 1% far-red light between 700-800nm. Control plants were grown under broad spectrum metal halide lamps. Plants were gron at a mean photon flux (300-800nm) of 330 micromol m-2 s-1 under a 12 h day-night photoperiod. Significant anatomical changes in stem and leaf morphologies were observed in plants grown under the LED arrays compared to plants grown under the broad-spectrum MH lamp. Cross-sectional areas of pepper stems, thickness of secondary xylem, numbers of intraxylary phloem bundles in the periphery of stem pith tissues, leaf thickness, numbers of choloplasts per palisade mesophyll cell, and thickness of palisade and spongy mesophyll tissues were greatest in peppers grown under MH lamps, intermediate in plants grown under the 660/blue LED array, and lowest in peppers grown under the 660 or 660/735 LED arrays. Most anatomical features of pepper stems and leaves were similar among plants grown under 660 or 660/735 LED arrays. The effects of spectral quality on anatomical changes in stem and leaf tissues of peppers generally correlate to the amount of blue light present in the primary light source.

NASA Discipline Life Support Systems↗

NASA NTRS1995

Growth and photomorphogenesis of pepper plants under red light-emitting diodes with supplemental blue or far-red lighting

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are a potential irradiation source for intensive plant culture systems and photobiological research. They have small size, low mass, a long functional life, and narrow spectral output. In this study, we measured the growth and dry matter partitioning of 'Hungarian Wax' pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) plants grown under red LEDs compared with similar plants grown under red LEDs with supplemental blue or far-red radiation or under broad spectrum metal halide (MH) lamps. Additionally, we describe the thermal and spectral characteristics of these sources. The LEDs used in this study had a narrow bandwidth at half peak height (25 nm) and a focused maximum spectral output at 660 nm for the red and 735 nm for the far-red. Near infrared radiation (800 to 3000 nm) was below detection and thermal infrared radiation (3000 to 50,000 nm) was lower in the LEDs compared to the MH source. Although the red to far-red ratio varied considerably, the calculated phytochrome photostationary state (phi) was only slightly different between the radiation sources. Plant biomass was reduced when peppers were grown under red LEDs in the absence of blue wavelengths compared to plants grown under supplemental blue fluorescent lamps or MH lamps. The addition of far-red radiation resulted in taller plants with greater stem mass than red LEDs alone. There were fewer leaves under red or red plus far-red radiation than with lamps producing blue wavelengths. These results indicate that red LEDs may be suitable, in proper combination with other wavelengths of light, for the culture of plants in tightly controlled environments such as space-based plant culture systems.

NASA Discipline Life Support Systems↗

DOE OSTI2026

Learning from nature’s plant engineers: Hijacking metabolism and development beyond genetics

Plant metabolism underpins the food, fiber, and fuel that support our economy, driving strong interest in new strategies to rewire plant metabolism for emerging applications. While most synthetic biology efforts are reliant on genetic engineering, plants can be manipulated in many other ways that remain comparatively underexplored. Across nature, diverse organisms, including bacteria, fungi, and insects, have evolved sophisticated mechanisms to exploit plant metabolic richness, reshaping it for purposes that span from basic nutrition to the construction of complex, novel structures for shelters. These interspecies interactions and non-model systems represent unique manners in which plants can be reprogrammed or hijacked by other organisms, offering inspiration for novel approaches to engineering plant metabolism. By better understanding the basis of how organisms induce these remarkable transformations in plants, we can expand the conceptual boundaries of synthetic biology and reveal alternative routes to manipulating plants for the production of a diverse array of valuable compounds and materials. Deeper insight into these mechanisms will yield novel blueprints for rethinking the scope and breadth in which we can redesign plant metabolism across many applications.

Sarkiss, Anthony E. [University of California, Ber↗

DOE OSTI2025

Genomic factors limiting the diversity of Saccharomycotina plant pathogens

The Saccharomycotina fungi have evolved to inhabit a vast diversity of habitats over their 400-million-year evolution. There are, however, only a few known fungal pathogens of plants in this subphylum, primarily belonging to the genera Eremothecium and Geotrichum. We compared the genomes of 12 plant-pathogenic Saccharomycotina strains to 360 plant-associated strains to identify features unique to the phytopathogens. Characterization of the oxylipin synthesis genes, a compound believed to be involved in Eremothecium pathogenicity, did not reveal any differences in gene presence within or between the plant-pathogenic and plant-associated strains. A reverse-ecological approach, however, revealed that plant pathogens lack several metabolic enzymes known to assist other phytopathogens in overcoming plant defenses. This includes L-rhamnose metabolism, formamidase and nitrilase genes. This result suggests that the Saccharomycotina plant pathogens are limited to infecting ripening fruits as they are without the necessary enzymes to degrade common phytohormones and secondary metabolites produced by plants.

Saccharomycotina, fungi, phytopathogen, reverse ec↗

DOE OSTI2025

Behavior of Multiple PV Plants in Future Power Grids During Events

As the integration of multiple photovoltaic (PV) plants into power grids grows, the dynamic response of each plant and their interactions during transient events demands a deeper understanding. In this paper, the dynamic behavior of multiple PV plants connected to future power grids is comprehensively explored using site-specific high-fidelity electromagnetic transient (EMT) PV plant models and generic high-fidelity EMT PV plant models. This research demonstrates the need to employ multiple high-fidelity EMT PV plant models to understand the intricate interactions between multiple PV plants during grid events. These models, developed in Fortran within the PSCAD environment, encompass a range of operational scenarios and plant configurations, offering invaluable insights crucial for future system planning with multiple PV plants to enhance grid stability.

Marthi, Phani Ratna Vanamali [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000↗

DOE OSTI2024

Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Coal-Biomass Co-Firing Power Plants with Carbon Capture and Storage

The United States has set a target to achieve the net-zero economy by 2050. Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Sequestration (BECCS) is one of the promising negative-emission routes in the mitigation portfolio to help meet this goal. Coal-biomass co-firing with carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a key BECCS technology to realize the carbon mitigation at fossil-fuel power plants. The mitigation potential of co-firing option is affected by numerous critical factors, such as biomass properties, co-firing level, and carbon capture rate. The objectives of the study are to characterize and estimate the life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and performance of coal-biomass co-firing power plants with CCS, determine the breakeven co-firing level at power plants necessary to achieve net-zero life cycle emissions, and quantify the variabilities and uncertainties in life cycle emissions. The scope of the life cycle assessment includes the fuel supply, combustion-based power generation, and CO2 transport and storage. A fuel-based life cycle module is developed and embedded in the Integrated Environmental Control Model (IECM), a fossil-fuel power plant modeling tool. This study then applies the enhanced IECM to conduct the process-based life cycle assessment for an array of biomass co-firing scenarios. Deterministic analysis indicates that reaching net-zero life cycle emissions in a biomass co-firing plant without CCS deployment is challenging. Combining biomass co-firing and CCS deployment can significantly lower the overall life cycle emissions of power plants. Net-zero life cycle emissions can be achieved with a 20 wt.% co-firing level and 90% CCS when the Powder River Basin coal is co-fired with energy crops or forestry residues. However, the breakeven co-firing level for net-zero emissions depend on the selected fuel properties. Fuel supply and plant operation are the critical stages influencing the life cycle emissions of power plants with 90% CCS. Deployment of deep CCS beyond 90% CO2 capture can remarkably reduce operational emissions and the breakeven co-firing level. With 99% CCS, the breakeven co-firing rate can be reduced to 12% on average. These findings highlight the trade-offs between technical performance and environmental impact of biomass co-firing at coal-fired power plants and emphasize the role of deep CCS in achieving a net-zero emissions future.

Wu, Wanying↗

NASA NTRS1981

AgRISTARS: Supporting research. Spring small grains planting date distribution model

A model was developed using 996 planting dates at 51 LANDSAT segments for spring wheat and spring barley in Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota in 1979. Daily maximum and minimum temperatures and precipitation were obtained from the cooperative weather stations nearest to each segment. The model uses a growing degree day summation modified for daily temperature range to estimate the beginning of planting and uses a soil surface wetness variable to estimate how a fixed number of planting days are distributed after planting begins. For 1979, the model predicts first, median, and last planting dates with root mean square errors of 7.91, 6.61, and 7.09 days, respectively. The model also provides three or four dates to represent periods of planting activity within the planting season. Although the full model was not tested on an independent data set, it may be suitable in areas other than the U.S. Great Plains where spring small grains are planted as soon as soil and air temperatures become warm enough in the spring for plant growth.

Hodges, T.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Increase of cold tolerance in cotton plant (Gossypium hirsutum L.) by mepiquat chloride

Three mepiquat chloride (MC) concentrations - 40, 70, and 100 g a.i./ha - were used to spray cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L., cultival McNair 220) plants to determine whether or not MC would increase their cold tolerance. Seven to ten days after the spray, the plants were exposed to three different cold treatments. No important difference in cold damage was noticed between the control and the MC-treated plants when they were exposed repeatedly to 4.5 C. No plants died when exposed to 0.5 C for 12 h; however, 90% of the 1st and 2nd leaves of the control plants were damaged. This was three times more damage than those leaves of plants treated with 70 and 100 g a.i./ha MC concentrations; 60% f the control and 10-20% of the MC-treated plants died when the plants were subjected to a cold hardening process with 15.5 C day (12 h) and 1.7 C night (12 h) for 10 days, and then, held at -2.2 C for 24 hours. The electrolyte leakage and reflectance measurement data showed that the cell membranes of the MC-treated plants sustained much less damage than those of the control. Freezing injury was easily assessed by reflectance measurements at the 1.65 micrometer wavelength.

Gausman, H. W.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Methane emissions to the atmosphere through aquatic plants

The movement of methane (CH4) from anaerobic sediments through the leaves, stems, and flowers of aquatic plants and into the atmosphere was found to provide a significant pathway for the emission of CH4 from the aquatic substrates of flooded wetlands. Methane concentrations well above the surrounding ambient air levels were found in the mesophyll of 16 varies of aquatic plants and are attributed to transpiration, diffusion, and pressure-induced flow of gaseous CH4 from the roots when they are embedded in CH4-saturated anaerobic sediments. Methane emissions from the emergent parts of aquatic plants were measured using floating chamber techniques and by enclosing the plants in polyethylene bags of known volume. Concentration changes were monitored in the trapped air using syringes and gas chromatographic techniques. Vertical profiles of dissolved CH4 in sediment pore water surrounding the aquatic plants' rhizomes were obtained using an interstitial sampling technique. Methane emissions from the aquatic plants studied varied from 14.8 mg CH4/d to levels too low to be detectable. Rooted and unrooted freshwater aquatic plants were studied as well as saltwater and brackish water plants. Included in the experiment is detailed set of measurements on CH4 emissions from the common cattail (Typha latifolia). This paper illustrates that aquatic plants play an important gas exchange role in the C cycle between wetlands and the atmosphere.

Sebacher, D. I.↗

NASA NTRS1992

A summary of porous tube plant nutrient delivery system investigations from 1985 to 1991

The Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) Program is a research effort to evaluate biological processes at a one person scale to provide air, water, and food for humans in closed environments for space habitation. This program focuses currently on the use of conventional crop plants and the use of hydroponic systems to grow them. Because conventional hydroponic systems are dependent on gravity to conduct solution flow, they cannot be used in the microgravity of space. Thus, there is a need for a system that will deliver water and nutrients to plant roots under microgravity conditions. The Plant Space Biology Program is interested in investigating the effect that the space environment has on the growth and development of plants. Thus, there is also a need to have a standard nutrient delivery method for growing plants in space for research into plant responses to microgravity. The Porous Tube Plant Nutrient Delivery System (PTPNDS) utilizes a hydrophilic, microporous material to control water and nutrient delivery to plant roots. It has been designed and analyzed to support plant growth independent of gravity and plans are progressing to test it in microgravity. It has been used successfully to grow food crops to maturity in an earth-bound laboratory. This document includes a bibliography and summary reports from the growth trials performed utilizing the PTPNDS.

Dreschel, T. W.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Spectral filtering for plant production

Both plants and animals have one general commonality in their perception of light. They both are sensitive primarily to the 400 to 700 nm wavelength portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. This is referred to as the visible spectrum for animals and as the photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) spectrum for plants. Within this portion of the spectrum, animals perceive colors. Relatively recently it has been learned that within this same spectral range plants also demonstrate varying responses at different wavelengths, somewhat analogous to the definition of various colors at specific wavelengths. Although invisible to the human eye, portions of the electromagnetic spectrum on either side of the visible range are relatively inactive photosynthetically but have been found to influence important biological functions. These portions include the ultraviolet (UV approximately equal to 280-400 nm) and the far-red (FR approximately equal to 700-800 nm). The basic photoreceptor of plants for photosynthesis is chlorophyll. It serves to capture radiant energy which combined with carbon dioxide and water produces oxygen and assimulated carbon, used for the synthesis of cell wall polysaccarides, proteins, membrane lipids and other cellular constituents. The energy and carbon building blocks of photosynthesis sustain growth of plants. On the other hand, however, there are other photoreceptors, or pigments, that function as signal transducers to provide information that controls many physiological and morphological responses of how a plant grows. Known photomorphogenic receptors include phytochrome (the red/far-red sensor in the narrow bands of 655-665 nm and 725-735 nm ranges, respectively) and 'cryptochrome' (the hypothetical UV-B sensor in the 280-320 nm range). Since the USDA team of W. L. Butler, S. B. Hendricks, H. A. Borthwick, H. A. Siegleman and K. Norris in Beltsville, MD detected by spectroscopy, extracted and identified phytochrome as a protein in the 1950's, many other investigators have found evidence of its control functions in plants. Considerably less, however, is known about the yet non-isolated cryptochrome. The information-transferring roles of photoreceptors in plants at specific spectral ranges quite naturally stimulated plant scientists and engineers to consider physically manipulating light to achieve desired physiological and morphological characteristics. One way to manipulate light is to filter it through materials that selectively transmit portions of the sun's spectrum in and near the PAR range.

Young, Roy E.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Development of Biocompatibility Procedures for Assessment of Plant Growth in Ground Test Hardware for the EMCS

The European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS) is an European Space Agency-developed facility designed to support plant research in microgravity on the IS NASA is responsible for providing US specific hardware to use within the EMCS. In preparation for flight, research will be developed and tested at Ames Research Center in the EMCS ground test hardware, the Experiment Reference Module (ERM) In order to determine the acceptability of the ERM for such purposes, biocompatibility tests will be performed to determine that the hardware functions as intended and successfully supports the' growth of plants. In this report, we describe the development of procedures and the collection of baseline data against which to compare ERM function, e.g. biocompatibility testing. A simple and robust system was developed to grow whole Arabidopsis thaliana plants within the confined volumes characteristic of spaceflight hardware. Our system for growing plants eliminated the necessity of a water/nutrient delivery system and allowed for quantifiable assessment of individual plants, as well as entire population dynamics. To insure uniform germination, seeds were started in small straw segments and transplanted into modified scintillation vials. Seedlings were selected prior to transplantation to decrease genetic variability. Plants were grown for a total of 24 days in standard laboratory plant growth chambers under controlled conditions. Sequential digital still images were taken on a daily basis. Analysis of these images allowed for the quantification of even minute environmental effect, on growth dynamics whole plants. The data collected provide reliable growth curves against which to compare plants grown in the ERM.

Bowman, R. N.↗

NASA NTRS2003

Demonstration of a Porous Tube Hydroponic System to Control Plant Moisture and Growth

Accurate remote detection of plant health indicators such as moisture, plant pigment concentrations, photosynthetic flux, and other biochemicals in canopies is a major goal in plant research. Influencing factors include complex interactions between wavelength dependent absorbing and scattering features from backgrounds as well as canopy biochemical and biophysical constituents. Accurately controlling these factors in outdoor field studies is difficult. Early testing of a porous tube plant culture system has indicated that plant biomass production, biomass partitioning, and leaf moisture of plants can be controlled by precisely managing the root water potential. Managing nutrient solution chemistry can also control plant pigments, biochemical concentrations, plant biomass production, and photosynthetic rates. A test bed was developed which utilized the porous tube technology with the intent of evaluating remote sensing systems, spectral analyses procedures, gas-exchange, and fluorescence measurements for their ability to detect small differences in plant water status. Spectral analysis was able to detect small differences in the mean leaf water content between the treatments. However these small differences were not detectable in the gas-exchange or fluorescence measurements.

Dreschel, T. W.↗