Astro Cultivators: Autonomous Growth System for Space Farming

Research Team

Lead Researchers:

• Bingbing Li, Manufacturing Systems Engineering
• Xunfei Jiang, Computer Science

Collaborators:

• Annette Besnilian, April Diederich, Andreas George, Julie Miller, Marilyn Magaram
  Center for Food Science, Nutrition, and Dietetics

Student Team:

• Anthony Morales-Badajoz, graduate student in Computer Engineering.
• Neville Elieh, undergraduate student in Computer Science.
• Elliot Sadler, graduate student in Manufacturing Systems Engineering.
• Jasmine Glover, undergraduate student in Mechanical Engineering.
• Manoj Nizampatnam, graduate student in Computer Science
• Troy Israel, undergraduate student in Computer Engineering.
• Andrew Wang, student at Portola High School.
• Larry Zhang, student at Agoura High School.

Funding

• Funding Organization: Donation from CSUN Alumni Mrs. Susan Ettinger
• Funding Program: NASA Deep Space Food Challenge Phase 1 and Phase 2

Abstract

The autonomous space farming system could be used to grow self-pollinating crops in space exploration missions that require no human intervention. Our goal is to utilize hyperspectral imaging and traditional imaging to allow for machine learning models to be used and retrained for not only our crops, but others as well. Temperature, humidity, and pressure sensors coupled with a robotic arm will care for and tend to the crops at every stage of development. This system can decrease crew members’ input needed to operate the plant growth systems in deep space by providing autonomous monitoring, real-time data reporting, ambient environment management, automatic harvesting, and cleaning. Crops with high nutrient content, high acceptability ratings, dwarf growth habits, and short harvest cycles (Sugar Ann Snap Peas and Red Robin Tomato) will initially be grown in this modular system, which has the potential to be scaled up or down depending on the mission. A variety of “pick and eat” crops can be grown to provide palatable, safe, nutritious foods that are familiar foods for crews to consume. To reduce resupply from Earth, the seeds from these crops have the potential to be saved and used to grow continuous generations of crops.

Motivation/Research Problem

The major mission of space food development is to provide a safe, nutritious, and acceptable food system that can function for a long-duration spaceflight, such as a human Mars mission in the 2030s. Researchers have gained large progress on plant growth in space stations in the past 40 years; however, NASA’s Advanced Food Technology Project (AFTP) ISS food system is inadequate for 5-year missions beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) (i.e. storage). The two main causes of long-term storage (i.e. longer than 3 years) were nutritional content of the food and inadequate food acceptability, which led to insufficient intake by the crew. Missions to Mars will rely on packaged foods from Earth, which will meet the macronutrient needs of astronauts but are subject to degradation of vitamin C, vitamin B1 and are deficient in vitamin K. Providing familiar foods from Earth and growing fresh produce to supplement nutrient deficiencies will be vital for the health of the crew. Space food planting is still mainly managed by the crew, which has brought up challenges for crew who are not scientists in agriculture. There is an urgent need for an autonomous system to manage the growth of plants from seed to seed.