MRVE Growing Chamber 1

Executive summary

:Space travel is becoming more accessible with a return to the moon by 2020 and lunar colonization shortly thereafter. For space colonization and settlement to occur, the need for self-healing, easy-to-erect, self-monitoring and gas-eliminating aeroponic plant growth chambers for recycling air is much greater than before. The MRVE Chamber allows for a minimal volumefootprint while maintaining a higher crop output than competitive models. Furthermore, thechamber is completely automated; it can be sent to a colony location and set itself up withouthuman assistance. The system can be transported completely deflated where one individual unittakes up less space than a small backpack and one section can be easily connected to multipleunits in order to achieve a “farm-like” setup. The chambers can be used to grow plants for sustained life, materials (i.e. cotton, linen, etc.) for a sustained lunar economy, and pure, clean air for a comfortable living environment. The system monitors the nutrient levels within the nutrientsolution and the gases that fill the aeroponics chamber. All of this data can be easily displayedthrough a computer system monitored by lunar colony employees. The air and water used in thesystem is filtered by reverse osmosis filters and electrically charged plates, respectively. Thisensures a clean growing environment for the plants, which will ensure a full, healthy crop as wellas a healthy source of food and materials for the lunar colonists. All of these are vital to a lunar colony; the MRVE Growing Chamber provides all of these essentials in one easy to transportsystem. The MRVE Growing Chamber utilizes the innovative technology of a modularly layeredset of materials whose major layers include a magnetorheological (MR) fluid that stiffens under amagnetic field, a viscoelastic (VE) plastic that self-heals punctures, and a chemical sensor layer which can be customized to detect gas and liquid content. All or some of these layers can beutilized in many different situations, including large-scale inflatable telescopes, habitats, and theMRVE Growing Chamber.

Background information

With Lunar Colonization on the horizon, scientists are constantly seeking a more efficient way to produce food, materials, and air inside lunar colony habitats. The MRVE Growing Chamber hassolutions to all of these problems and more within one compact system. The MRVE GrowingChamber is an aeroponic plant growing system that can be used for agricultural ventures in manytypes of locations including space station environments, the moon, and on Earth. The systemcould easily be used in greenhouses or growing rooms to produce a steady supply of crops for everyone from a commercial farmers to families looking for an alternative to buying steadilymore expensive, past fresh, and pesticide tainted food. The logistics behind the variety of application and utilization of the new Magneto-Rheological Visco-Elastic (MRVE) material can be found in the Concept Details section of this paper. MRVE’s unique applications areshowcased in this presentation of the MRVE Growing Chamber.3-D Magnetic Field Demonstration. Pasco Scientific. 10 Nov. 2005<http://store.pasco.com/pascostore/showdetl.cfm?&DID=9&Product_ID=51821&Detail=1>.Baard, Erik. "Space-Age Goop Morphs Between Liquid and Solid" Space.com. 2005. ImaginovaCorp. 21 Oct. 2005<http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/mr_materials_010905-1.html>.

MRVE Growing Chamber 2Ethylene Power Pellets. 2008. QA Supplies, LLC. 9 Jan. 2009<http://www.qasupplies.com/etpope.html>.Fenner, Joel. Personal interview. 3 Nov. 2005.Genc, Seval. "Synthesis and Properties of Magnetorheological (MR) Fluids." 2002. University of Pittsburg. 21 Oct. 2005 <http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-08062002-162348/unrestricted/genc12-20.pdf>Klingenberg, Daniel J. "Making Fluids into Solids with Magnets." 26 Sept. 2003. 21 Oct. 2005<http://www.sas.org/E-Bulletin/2003-09-26/labNotesAS/body.html>.Phillips, Tony, and Patrick L. Barry. Amazing Magnetic Fluids. 23 Aug. 2002. NASA. 6 Oct.2005 <http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/23aug_MRfluids.htm?list47209>.Roberto, Keith. How-To Hydroponics. Farmingdale: The Futuregarden Press, 2003Vankor Technologies. How-to 1-MCP. 2006. Vankor Technologies, LTD. 9 Jan. 2009<http://www.vankortech.com/how%201-mcp%20works.html>.Xu, Jennifer C., and Gary Hunter. Personal interview. June-July 2008."UVC Sterilization." American Ultraviolet Co. American Ultraviolet Co. 5 Jan. 2009<http://www.americanultraviolet.com/uvc/faq/index.htm>.

Concept details

The MRVE Growing Chamber (refer to Figure 10 in the Appendix) is an automated self-erecting aeroponic growth chamber. The chamber is constructed from Magneto-Rheological-Visco-Elastic material (MRVE) and is fully automated. This chamber can be given specificcommands and can be compactly packed, stored, and transported to the future site of a lunar colony ready to be activated and automatically begin to grow plants before astronauts arrive onthe moon. The plants will be completely taken care of by the growing chamber and can beharvested by the lunar colonists.The MRVE Growing Chamber is an innovative design that combines the technology of MRVE material, which was presented and awarded 2

place honors as an innovative technologydesign during the 2007 Pete Conrad Spirit of Innovation Award. The MRVE material is nowapplied to an automated aeroponic system that is completely redesigned by this team. Thissystem was first suggested in 1999 by NASA as Low mass Inflatable Aeroponic System (AIS).The AIS is similar to the MRVE Growing Chamber in many aspects, however, it contained manyflaws. Primarily, the system lacked a computer system that accurately monitored the nutrientlevels in both the solution and in the air inside the system. Secondly, the system was notcompletely sealed like the MRVE Growing Chamber. Without a complete seal, a positive andsustainable pressure level cannot be achieved. This positive pressure gradient is the key in fast plant growth. Controlled pressure inside the growth chamber promotes faster water and nutrientuptake by the plants. This essentially "forces" plants to absorb higher levels of nutrients thanthey would in the AIS.The MRVE Growing Chamber is made up of three distinct sections. The “HardwareSection”, “Aeroponic Chamber”, and “Hortidome”. The Hardware Section contains all of theequipment needed to operate the MRVE Growing Chamber. The Aeroponics Chamber willhouse the sensors and nutrients that allow the plants to grow in an air environment. TheHortidome surrounds the plants, but not the roots that are contained in the Aeroponics Chamber,and senses the gases produced by the growing plants.

MRVE Growing Chamber 3

Hardware Section

Once the chamber is in its desired location, it will be inflated to its proper shape using smallair tanks stored within the package, and then will be put in the presence of a constant magneticfield created by an electromagnet that will stiffen the fabric due to the Magnetorheological (MR)fluid within it. This enables the chamber to remain erect with out the worry of air particlesseeping out of the packaging.Similar to our air supply, small tanks will be connected to the main chamber package thatwill contain premixed nutrient solution as well as a separate container with sub-sectionscontaining various forms of individual nutrients and minerals.When the system is fully erected, the computer systems will activate and begin monitoringdifferent gas levels in the air inside the chamber using chemical microsensor technology that isembedded on the MRVE hortidome—the sealed cover of the chamber—and ventilation tubing,as well as nutrient and chemical concentrations in the nutrient solution.

Aeroponics Chamber

The aeroponic portion of this product works simply by filling the bottom of the chamber withthe nutrient solution. Tiny bubblers at the bottom will begin to have air circulated through them.The result is having the roots of the plants near the surface of the water and having the tiny bubbles burst at the solution surface, releasing a small amount of mist. This technology will becoupled with a type of fog machine, which will atomize the nutrient solution further into a lightmist that will constantly coat the roots with the solution. The plants will be in “growing baskets”flush with the MRVE surface, allowing only the roots (the main part of the plant that actually

needs

to be watered) to be coated in the nutrient solution. (The MRVE will be described later inthe portion that describes the MRVE and its use in this product) The roots will penetrate throughthe basket. The leaves of the plants will be exposed to a UV light mounted at the top of theMRVE hortidome.

Nutrient Monitoring System

The lower part of the aeroponics chamber also houses a nutrient sensors system. Thesesensors are a layer placed on the MRVE containment, and are connected to a main computer system that will allow colony staff members to manually monitor the plant chambers. Thesensors will display the various nutrient levels and show a comparison between where variousnutrient levels should be and where they actually are. These levels vary for different plants andcan be overridden by the staff if experimental nutrient concentrations are required.

Hortidome

Ethylene Sensing, Removal and Inhibition

The nutrient levels are not the only item that will be monitored. Plant gas output will alsoneed to be monitored since every plant emits ethylene. Ethylene makes plants rot prematurely.Therefore, a sensor to monitors ethylene levels within the chamber is necessary as well as anethylene remover and an ethylene receptor inhibitor. The ethylene sensor will be placedthroughout the MRVE hortidome, and their technology is a variant of chemical microsensor technology (these sensors will be further defined in the section entitled Chemical Mircosensors),except it is a silicon-carbide (SiC) Schottky diode (Jennifer Xu and Gary Hunter of the NASAGRC, my internship mentors). That means that this sensor’s sensing layer is a metal oxide, andin this case, it is tin oxide (SnO

); the Schottky diode is constructed with a top layer of Pt, amiddle layer of SnO

and a bottom layer of the semiconductor, which in this case is SiC. Probesneed to touch both sides of the sensor, and electricity needs to be added to the system to make itfunction properly (Jennifer Xu and Gary Hunter of the NASA GRC, my internship mentors).