Plant Water Management in Microgravity

Date

2020-07-31

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

2020 International Conference on Environmental Systems

Abstract

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 ISS demonstrations are currently on orbit for experiments in late 2019 through 2020, including soil and hydroponic models in single and parallel channel networks. Supportive terrestrial and low-g drop tower tests are conducted to aid in experiment design via scale- and full-scale demonstrations. The test demonstrate proof-of-concept, limits of operation, system stability, and more. Applications are discussed in relation to plant growth facilities for both near-term microgravity plant science research and long duration human exploration missions.

Description

Tyler Hatch, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USA
Mark Weislogel, Portland State University, USA
Rihana Mungin, Portland State University, USA
Maria Hernandez, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USA
ICES500: Life Science/Life Support Research Technologies
The proceedings for the 2020 International Conference on Environmental Systems were published from July 31, 2020. The technical papers were not presented in person due to the inability to hold the event as scheduled in Lisbon, Portugal because of the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Keywords

microgravity, fluids, physics, technology, demonstration

Citation