DEVELOPMENT OF A SPACE RATED NUTRIENT DELIVERY ROOT SUPPORT SYSTEM

THIS PROJECT IS AIMED AT DEVELOPMENT OF AN APPARATUS AND A PROGRAM OF RESEARCH WHICH WILL AID IN UNDERSTANDING THE RELATIONSHIP OF AERATION TO NUTRIENT UPTAKE BY PLANTS IN ANYGROWTH SITUATION, BUT PARTICULARILY IN THE CASE OF MICRO-GRAVITY ROOT SUPPORT AND NUTRIENT DELIVERY SYSTEMS. AROOT CHAMBER WILL BE DESIGNED WHICH WILL BE CAPABLE OF CONTROLLING THE ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT AND THE APPLICATION OF NUTRIENTS IN THE ROOT ZONE OF AN EXPERIMENTALPLANT. IN ORDER TO PROVIDE HIGH RESOLUTION DATA ACQUISITIONDURING PLANT RESPONSE TO TREATMENT REGIMES, THE ROOT CHAMBER SYSTEM WILL BE COUPLED WITH A SHORT-LIVED ISOTOPE KINETICS SYSTEM, A SOFTWARE DRIVEN ANALYTICAL SYSTEM WHICH INTEGRATES THE OUTPUTS FROM A VARIETY OF NON-INTRUSIVE PHYSIOLOGICAL SENSORS AND AN ARRAY OF GAMMA DETECTORS TO TRACK THE MOVEMENT OF 11C OR OTHER SHORT-LIVED ISOTOPES OF BIOLOGICAL INTEREST, THUS PROVIDING INFORMATION IN REAL-TIMEON THE PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSE AND FUNCTIONAL HEALTH STATUS OF THE LIVING PLANT. THIS INTEGRATED SYSTEM WILL BE USED TOCARRY OUT A SERIES OF EXPERIMENTS TO DEFINE AND DIFFERENTIATE THE EFFECTS OF NITROGEN PURGE ANOXIA AND FLOODING IN TERMS OF THEIR EFFECTS UPON CARBON TRANSPORT ANDNUTRIENT UPTAKE IN GROWING PLANT SPECIES WHICH ARE OF INTEREST TO THE NASA CELSS PROGRAM. THE DATA AND INSIGHTS OBTAINED WILL BE USED TO GUIDE DEVELOPMENT OF MICRO-G RATED ROOT SUPPORT/NUTRIENT DELIVERY SYSTEMS.