Greenhouses — revision 39799

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> Abr </th> <th> Resource </th> <th> Sources </th> <th> Required Form </th> <th> Results </th> </tr> <tr> <td> C </td> <td> Carbon </td> <td> CO2, CO, C, CH4, HCN </td> <td> CO2 </td> <td rowspan=3> C6H12O6 (Carbohydrates, Lipids, etc) </td> </tr> <tr> <td> H </td> <td> Hydrogen </td> <td> H2O, CH4, NH3, HCN </td> <td> H2O </td> </tr> <tr> <td> O </td> <td> Oxygen </td> <td> H2O, CO2, CO, metal oxides </td> <td> H2O, CO2, O2, NO3(-), PO4(3-) </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