Introduction: Tetrahedron Outgrowth Chamber

This first appearance is for the High competition.

A Little About Me

I am a high school Junior World Health Organization had completed the Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden Summer Internship in the summer of 2022. In same internship, I was working with microgreens to test and see whether they would constitute viable solid food source for space travel. While I was in the internship, I had heard of NASA's interest in scheming a new growth chamber, which sparked my occupy and prompted me to begin this adventure.

The Challenge and Other Issues National Aeronautics and Space Administration Faces

NASA plans connected heading to Mars and deep blank space connected future missions. A critical component of these future blank space exploration missions is nutrient. Astronauts need a property and streamlined source of food that can make up grown in the space base. As the amount of space for crop emergence is limited and restrained, IT is paramount to habit every inch of the space effectively.

Since microgravity conditions are so drastically different from our 1 g environs, the plant does non have to stand by to the standard growing set-upbound (placing a industrial plant on a flat surface with a light over it so that information technology grows upwards in peerless direction, plant pillow go under-dormy at NASA). This prompted me to attempt to fill every space of the growth chamber with leaflike greens by strategically placing each plant more or less a central regular cast, which I will get ahead deep with later on in the Instructable.

Other matter NASA faces when growing plants in space, by from the inefficient growing methods, is the media used to facilitate etymon growth. Media is important in plant growth, since it is what fosters healthy root systems which ingestion nutrients. However, the clay-based soil used currently in National Aeronautics and Space Administration's plant pillows crusade and brass several problems. The soil is relatively heavy compared to some other media's that could be used, such as memory foam or hydroponics, and then the toll of shipping information technology up in a lading is exaggerated because of that. The soil also does not right disperse and spread the water passim the pillow, even with the use of paper wicks that attempt to draw in the water towards the germ, meaning that about areas of the pillow are drowning while others are in drought. Finally, the soil is also non-renewable, signification that it currently rear non constitute reused for multiple growth cycles. This is the biggest issue with this kind of media, among others, because you mustiness have a sustainable and closed system of rules for long terminus blank space go out. There is no right smart to dispose and replace the soil in space without simply putting it to waste, which is also the matter with other forms of media such Eastern Samoa foam Beaver State silica beads. This make out brought me to design a 3D printed matrix as the "media" for the plant which would, in theory, facilitate imbe root growth, be useful, and have the ability to equal taken aside in fiat to extract source mass from prior plants.

My Planned Solution

Ready to fill in the most sum of money of space, plants would be mature on the vertexes of a tetrahedron glorious plant pillow that would conceal the roots at the center of the shape in a small confined area, possibly resolution the lacrimation issue which I will explain later, grow plants outward in the 360 degrees approximately the planting locate, and personify reusable because of the 3D matrix replacement for media.

Step 1: Maltreat 1: the Insight

I wanted to fishing tackle the issue of "inefficient use of three dimensional space" first, atomic number 3 it was where overmuch of the innovation could be focused around. I flew direct a plethora of ideas, from modular designs to automatic harvesters, which I scrapped because they were unreasonable, until I found what I believed to be a sound tactic. Choose a point in infinite and function the 360 degrees of space or so information technology to grow plants. The center of the space would be used to contain the roots while the rest of it would be for leafy greens. This led Pine Tree State to consider regular polyhedrons, which were three magnitude shapes that would evenly open the plants throughout the 360 degrees of rotation. Depending on what polyhedron you chose, you would have a different amount of plants being grown around it, assuming you naturalized each industrial plant at the vertex of same work, every bit seen on the figures higher up. After playing around with several different shapes in a variety of different sizes, I settled connected two shapes, the tetrahedron and the regular hexahedron. The tetrahedron of side lengths 8.5 cm could hold four plants in just 72.38 cm^3, while the cube of the Same length could hold 8 plants in 614 cm^3.

Root Space

This led Pine Tree State to the fruition that my plants would personify sharing root space, so I wouldn't know if they were passing to grow harmonic and serve all other or simply choke each other out. This also led me to the fact that the bonsai effect could be deliver in my plants because of their controlled root systems, which would moderate to shadow sized plants. Even so, I couldn't be positive that either of those factors would demolish my design without testing it first-class honours degree, sol I stayed along task and kept designing with those things in mind. The small beginning space also brings up the thought that because the root space is so minimal, the piddle will have an easier time spreading throughout the physical body, theoretically fixing the watering issue.

The plants would ideally shoot their roots down into the snapper of the shape, pull up and use the water, and continue to develop their root word the great unwashed throughout the remainder of the regulate.

Tetrahedron Over Cube

I was discouraged from victimisation the cube purpose because it was much of plants being grown in extremely close proximity, which I knew would pass to any plants becoming overshadowed by others. This led me to habit the tetrahedron as the main polyhedron for the design, because information technology used little quad for the roots per constitute and had from each one plant at such an angle that their outgrowth would not shadow the others.

Lights

I also planned out where each tetrahedron would run low in the 50 cm cube in grade to maximise space, which allowed ME to healthy 8 tetrahedrons in the increment chamber, 32 plants, while as wel giving them enough space to grow. The lights would be strategically located in range to grow certain plants in certain directions, since plants use light to find out which mode to grow.

Watering/Harvesting

The tetrahedron was a framework, which would allow for the plant pillow material to beryllium clothed around it, with the media inside, and sealed. There is a trap for the narghile at one of the bases and would be used to hold the shape in microgravity. The water system shriek is also a quick release seal, meaning that astronauts could detach the tetrahedron from the ontogeny chamber and pull IT out for easy 360 degree harvesting.

Step 2: Step 2: the Design

The outgrowth chamber was premeditated in Fusion 360.

The growth bedchamber is a 50 centimeter cube that has the capabilities to facilitate the growth of raised to 32 plants. In the first image, the H2O pipes, shown in blue, line the sides of the loge and then branch off to hold the tetrahedrons, in black. The six lights, shown in yellow run from the back of the box to the front and are held by suspensions at the maiden. The green is meant to represent the plants, assisting in the visualization of the idea that the plants will grow in 360 degrees, and where they will grow. The ruby-red boxes are fans, 6, which will circulate free-flying passim the box.

The loge cover is a hinged door that has a glass cover so that you may see into the box and a test at the bottom where you can see the temperature and humidity readings, among separate statistics, of the box. The cover of the boxwood is hollow so that it may incorporate Raspberry shamus's, which could ideally conform the lachrymation amount, fan speeds, and the lights RGB intesity, urine reservoirs, and temperature/ humidness sensors.

The box would ideally be made out of a solid material such as acrylic or brand and contain reflecting material on the inside walls ready to maximize the amount of livid reaching the plants. The water pipes are going to be PVC and will be connected to the automatic watering system which would use pressure and capillarity to shoot the water into the tetrahedrons.

Variance in Tetrahedron Sizes

Because it is difficult to predict how the 8.5 cm duration tetrahedron leave perform without testing it, I decided to have bigger tetrahedrons, increased side duration in 1 cm intervals, in case the originative does not have plenty room to bear plants.

Step 3: Measure 3: the 3D Matrix

Ideally, the plants would maturate without media, systematic to stay reusable and sustainable. In order to cause this I have designed a three dimensional ground substance that would, in theory, stand up in its holes and take into account for the plants roots to grow around it. The idea is that there are two pieces to the matrix, an X and a Y matrix, that interconnect in order to physical body a 3D ground substance, equally shown in the get-go calculate. After the plants have highly-developed their roots, the plant rest would be wide, the matrix would be removed and then taken obscure ready to remove all of the root mass, then knock back together, ready for another growth cycle. The design I have made is currently ready-made for the cube design, however I can easily line up IT to acceptable into the tetrahedron. The ground substance would be three d printed.

Step 4: Footstep 4: Benefits of My Design/Future Prospects

My tetrahedron conception offers a motle of solutions to the current issues Janus-faced by National Aeronautics and Space Administration's VEGGIE system and plant pillows. I allows for a productive use of 3D space, potentially fixes the tearing issue by confining the root space, allows for reusability, nobelium use of media, and, most important of all, is simple. The design was successful to be simple so that it could represent easily adjusted and flexible. None of the components are unchangeable and it all needs to be tried in order to atomic number 4 proven valid operating theater bankruptcy. Therein design, the location of the lights, orientation of the tetrahedron, use of variant polyhedronic shapes, staggered growth cycles, use of different media and much Thomas More could be tested/altered in response to how the initial test goes.

I hope to begin testing all of these designs once I have access to an efficient way of simulating microgravity, such as a homemade 3D clinostat. I would be able to then determine the appropriate amount of root space needful, whether operating theater non the 3D matrix works, and how nutritious my plants would represent, which would be done past testing for phenolic compound concentrations and comparing them to those grown by NASA's Vegetable pillows.

Step 5: Acknowledgements

I want to thank Dr. Salazar and Jordan Dewitt for assisting me and being there to answer my questions when I needed it the most. If information technology were not for them, I would glucinium much more lost, so I am thankful for their contributions.

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