[Prototype of space vitamin greenhouse "Phytoconveyor"].
Installation of a greens production system on the International space station will mean a leap toward biological regeneration of food in long-duration space mission. Today, priority is given to green cultures as supplements of space rations and a psychological support to crews in exploration missions to Mars, and also as least resource-intensive. Cylindrical salad greenhouse "Phytoconveyor" designed at the Institute for Biomedical Problems is highly productive, energy-efficient, and requires minimum of crew time for. Dimensions of the greenhouse are 540 x 590 x 400 mm, power demand is 0.25 kW, and the Plant chamber volume is about 0.09 m3. 'Phytoconveyor" has a planting unit with six cylindrical root modules. The total illuminated crop area is about 0.4 m2. The lighting unit consists of red (660 nm) and blue (470 nm) light-emitting diodes on the inner surface of a spiral cylinder coaxial with the roots module unit that generate the photon flux density 350 micromol x M(-2) x s(-1) at a distance of 4 cm. Each root module has a porous tube wrapped up in a fiber substrate with ion-exchange resins and is covered with a lightproof plastic with seed slits. The "Phytoconveyor" design includes a programmable reverse watering system. Given the 24-hr light period, the laboratory model of "Phytoconveyor" can produce up to 300 gram of fresh greens every 4-5 days. The greenhouse was designed with due account of resource limitations on the ISS Russian orbital segment.
Berkovich
Iu A
IuA
Erokhin
A N
AN
Krivobok
N M
NM
Smolianina
S O
SO
Baranov
A V
AV
Shanturin
N A
NA
Droniaev
V P
VP
Radostin
A V
AV
Trofimov
Iu V
IuV
Sivenkov
V K
VK
D018533:Biomass; D018504:Ecological Systems, Closed; D002149:Energy Intake; D004867:Equipment Design; D018525:Germination; D006801:Humans; D008021:Life Support Systems / Q000295:instrumentation*; D009753:Nutritive Value; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000254:growth & development*; D012639:Seeds / Q000254:growth & development; D013026:Space Flight; D018561:Space Simulation