-Our Mission-
To advance technology in space exploration by creating an efficient way of growing plants in a zero gravity environment.
About
As government funding for space exploration declines, so does the research to develop new technologies in this field. Currently, the cost to send supplies to the International Space Station, including food for the astronauts manning the Station, costs nearly $10,000 per pound of material. However, growing plants as you would on Earth is not possible in a zero gravity, or microgravity, environment. The way plants grow is by sensing the force of gravity and adapting to where the seed should sprout it’s roots. The seed will sprout it’s roots with the force of gravity, and it will sprout the stem in the opposite direction. This works on Earth, but not necessarily in space.
NASA has tried to counteract this issue by developing a product called “Plant Pillows”. These pillows are non-reusable bags that use glue to fix the seed to the |
bag, need to be sewed shut, and waste a considerable amount of space by allowing only one seed per bag. As you can see, these “Plant Pillows” are not very cost effective, and take a long time to plant the seed, glue it down, and sew the bag shut.
Our product, G2, uses centrifugal force to create an “artificial gravity”. Our design is a 6 sided polygon that will spin around an axle, and create an outward force to replicate the force of gravity. This design will allow for planting methods similar to container gardening, but multiple plants could be planted in the same container. This allows for little to no wasted space in the final design, and therefore making our product more efficient. For more information on our design, visit the Prototype / Design page.
We are currently testing the effects of light-duration changes on the plants, and investigating the benefits of a nutrient gradient when planting the seeds. We have 4 light conditions in our experiment. One light is on for 24 hours a day, and never turns off. A second light is on for 8 hours, then turns off for another 8 hours. A third light is on and off for 1 hour, and our fourth and final light is on and off for 10 second durations. We have an Arduino UNO Microcontroller programmed to control the light cycles of this experiment. Developers from our team are also working with probes connected to the Arduino that can sense the percentage of water in the soil, to ensure the water content of the soil remains the same throughout the plants.
Our product, G2, uses centrifugal force to create an “artificial gravity”. Our design is a 6 sided polygon that will spin around an axle, and create an outward force to replicate the force of gravity. This design will allow for planting methods similar to container gardening, but multiple plants could be planted in the same container. This allows for little to no wasted space in the final design, and therefore making our product more efficient. For more information on our design, visit the Prototype / Design page.
We are currently testing the effects of light-duration changes on the plants, and investigating the benefits of a nutrient gradient when planting the seeds. We have 4 light conditions in our experiment. One light is on for 24 hours a day, and never turns off. A second light is on for 8 hours, then turns off for another 8 hours. A third light is on and off for 1 hour, and our fourth and final light is on and off for 10 second durations. We have an Arduino UNO Microcontroller programmed to control the light cycles of this experiment. Developers from our team are also working with probes connected to the Arduino that can sense the percentage of water in the soil, to ensure the water content of the soil remains the same throughout the plants.