The Greenhouses project is a project of [[SolSeed]] which is an expression of our desire to contribute to [[theDestiny]]. The Greenhouses will be designed to land on cold worlds in the Solar System and grow and store food for later consumption by astronauts visiting the world.
= Scope =
The project is to [[Bring Life]] to other worlds in a meaningful way with the minimum payload size.
* The project will include the following abilities
** The ability to extract resources needed to grow plants (e.g. CO<sub>2</sub>, NH3, H2O, K&P-compounds)
** The ability to process resources into the forms needed for plants
** The ability to maintain the environment needed for plant growth (Temperature, atmospheric pressure and composition, water chemistry)
** The ability to garden plants (protect from disease, etc...)
** The ability to harvest plants or edible parts of plants
** The ability to preserve harvested plants
* The project may include the following abilities
** The ability to store Oxygen gas produced as a useful bi-product of the plant growth
* The project will not include the following abilities
** The ability to build new greenhouse infrastructure (robotics, pumps, sensors, etc...) in situ
= Phases =
The project will have three major phases:
== Experimental Phase ==
In this phase, the components will be designed and tested and incrementally assembled at our three separate facilities in Ottawa, Portland and Redmond.
== Arctic Test Phase ==
In this phase, a version of the greenhouse will be deployed to the Arctic (or Antarctic) in order to attempt to grow food remotely in a cold environment. Even the coldest places in the Arctic and Antarctic are significantly warmer than most of the worlds in the inner solar system. Carbon dioxide will be available as a gas in the Arctic, rather than a solid as in most worlds in the inner solar system (by inner I mean inside the scattered disk)
== Alien Development Phase ==
In this phase, a version of the greenhouse, capable of surviving on alien worlds, will be developed, tested and launched and sent to other worlds (initially outer main belt asteroids and possibly Mars).
= Resource Flow Chart =
The following table shows the 7 critical resources required for plant growth and summarizes the process for converting them as found in raw form on alien worlds into stored food.
<table>
<tr>
<th colspan=3>
Gather Raw Materials ->
</th>
<th>
Prepare and Feed it to PLants ->
</th>
<th>
Store Plant Parts for later Astronauts to Eat
</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>
C
</th>
<td>
Carbon
</td>
<td>
CO2, CO, C, CH4
</td>
<td>
CO2
</td>
<td>
C6H12O6 etc...
</td>
</tr>
</table>
= Sensors for pc-board integrations: =
* pH https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10972
* dissolved oxygen https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11194
* IR thermometer https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10740