uG-LilyPond - Floating Plant Pond for Microgravity

Regenerative space life support will undoubtedly require food production, to recover nutrients and close the carbon loop in a spacecraft habitat. Aquatic plants have enormous potential for edible biomass production but have been little studied as potential food crops for space applications. The proposed μG-LilyPond™ is an autonomous environmentally controlled floating plant cultivation system for use in microgravity. The μG-LilyPond™ concept expands the types of crops that can be grown on a spacecraft to include aquatic floating plants as a nutritional supplement for the crew diet. Innovative features include low maintenance, increased reliability with passive water delivery, volume efficiency, full life cycle support via vegetative propagation, close canopy lighting, and crop versatility. Biomass produced will be used primarily as food but could also be used for biofuel or fertilizer. This collaborative effort between Space Lab Technologies, University of Colorado, and Refcon Services, Inc. will combine Phase II design, analysis, prototype fabrication, and testing to demonstrate technology function and prepare for flight prototype demonstration in the space environment. Phase II will begin with the Phase I conceptual design and analyses and culminate in the detailed design, fabrication and testing of an integrated engineering demonstration unit (EDU). In addition, we will develop a flight prototype of the water transport loop, built to operate in a relevant microgravity environment, for use in future flight opportunities. Finally equivalent system massof the proposed μG-LilyPond™ concept will be established for the detailed EDU design. Phase I conceptual design and feasibility assessment illuminated several important focus areas for Phase II, and well positioned our team to accomplish our proposed objectives.