Browsing by Author "Volponi, Marco"
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Item Growing Plants from SEEDS on Mars for Supporting Human Exploration(46th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2016-07-10) Volponi, Marco; Pisacreta, Jacopo; Lobascio, CesareThe paper presents the results of a study performed during the Project Work by students of the 7th edition of the International Master Course in SpacE Exploration and Development Systems (SEEDS), born from a collaboration of Politecnico di Torino (Italy), Institut Supérieur de l’Aéronautique et l’Espace (ISAE, Toulouse) in France and University of Leicester in UK, with the partnership of European Space Agencies and Industries. The study focused on the design of a Martian permanent human outpost for the Mars Initial Expedition TOwards a New Era (MILESTONE) mission. The overall architecture supporting the mission has been studied and among the building blocks identified and designed, a Green House module has been conceived. The objective of the GH project was to design a plant growth facility to be integrated in a bio-regenerative life support system. Several trade-offs have been performed to evaluate possible design architectures, according to the philosophy of a common structure for all the modules of the outpost, considering the cultivation methods, the crops selection and the diet composition. Growth substrate, lighting, pressure, temperature, atmosphere composition, waste treatment and robotic assistance have been analysed, adopting environmental safety, robustness, maintenance easiness and effectiveness as figures of merit. From the results of the trade-offs different options of diet/crop combinations have been evaluated, starting from the FARM study of a greenhouse able to fulfill almost all the nutritional needs of the crew, scaling down in order to reduce the cultivated area without compromising the health of the crew, also considering integrations from Earth. For the conclusion of this study, the module design concept, its main features and its integration inside the overall outpost architecture has been assessed, considering not only mass and power as figure of merits, but also crew psychological aspects and possible further expansions of the GH.Item Main Performance Results of the EDEN ISS Rack-Like Plant Growth Facility(47th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2017-07-16) Boscheri, Giorgio; Lamantea, Matteo Maria; Lobascio, Cesare; Volponi, Marco; Schubert, Daniel; Zabel, PaulItem Oxygen Regeneration by Algae Cultivation in Photo-Bioreactor for ISS Cabin Technology Demonstrator(2020 International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2020-07-31) Chapuis, Dominique; Nebuloni, Stefano; Dainesi, Paolo; Laroche, Céline; Duchez, David; Dussap, Claude-Gilles; Volponi, Marco; Paillé, ChristelOxygen regeneration from ambient carbon dioxide is a fundamental technology building block for future life support systems for space applications. BIORAT1 Phase B2 project consists in the development of the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) level design of an On Board Demonstrator (OBD) to be hosted in European Drawer Rack 2(EDR2) facility on board of the ISS. The core of the OBD is a Photo-Bioreactor (PBR) filled with spirulina (Limnospira indica PCC 8005) producing oxygen from carbon dioxide and light by photosynthesis. A Liquid Loop (LL) transports the oxygen & carbon dioxide dissolved into the cultivation medium liquid between the Photobioreactor (PBR) and the ISS cabin ambient air. The Gas Exchange Module (GEM) enables the exchange of Oxygen & Carbon Dioxyde separates the cultivation medium liquid to the ambient air while keeping the liquid inside the LL. The design of this flight hardware is supported by tests results obtained with a Bread Board Model (BBM). In this paper, we present the results of the long duration spirulina cultivation test performed with the BBM. allowing verification of the long term functionality of the PBR & LL including the GEM. The PBR performances together with correlation to the model of the cultivated algae growth and oxygen production are presented. Future development and expected results and perspectives are also presented and discussed.Item Status of the EDEN ISS Rack-like food production unit after five months in Antarctica(48th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2018-07-08) Boscheri, Giorgio; Volponi, Marco; Zabel, Paul; Marchitelli, GiovanniPlant cultivation in large-scale closed environments is challenging and several key technologies necessary for space-based plant production are not yet space-qualified or remain in early stages of development. The Horizon2020 EDEN ISS project aims at development and demonstration of higher plant cultivation technologies, suitable for near term deployment on the International Space Station (ISS) and from a long-term perspective, within Moon and Mars habitats. The EDEN ISS consortium, as part of the performed activities, has designed and built a plant cultivation system to have form, fit and function of an European Drawer Rack 2 (EDR II) payload, with a modularity that would allow its incremental installation in the ISS homonymous rack, occupying from one-quarter rack to the full system. The developed system has been completed and tested in a laboratory environment in early 2017. The system was then integrated and tested at DLR Bremen into the main transport container (MTF). In the last 5 months the system was operated also in the highly-isolated German Antarctic Neumayer Station III, in the container-sized test facility to provide realistic mass flow relationships and interaction with a crewed environment. This paper describes the key results of the Bremen test phase as well as initial ISPR plant growth facility tests in Antarctica as space-analogue environment.