Plant Research Technologies for Space

In agriculture, a good crop stand is defined as having a field of healthy and vigorous plants with uniform growth and is one of the pillars of successful crop production as it determines yield potential. Achieving a good crop stand depends on several factors, including seed health, early seedling vigor, adequate preparation of the land (for field agriculture), quality of growth substrates (for Controlled Environment Agriculture; CEA), and management techniques, such as delivering/maintaining the right amount of water and fertilizer. The production of good crop stands, therefore, will be critical for the establishment of space agriculture on the Moon and Mars because mission complexity and limited crew time will likely leave very little or no room for re-planting. NASA is interested in technologies that will minimize the risk of catastrophic crop failure due to poor crop stands. This interest will focus on technologies and methods for anchoring seeds to the growth medium and automating the delivery of water to obtain uniform seed germination and maintain vigorous early seedling growth in enclosed environmentally controlled small plant habitats. Moreover, concepts and sensors that will provide information on percent germination, seedling uniformity, seedling survival, measurements that are indicative of a good or bad crop stand in these small plant habitats, are desired. Applicants responding to this SBIR subtopic should describe how their proposed concepts/technology will provide resources (e.g., water, fertilizer) and maintain conditions (e.g. lighting, pressure, humidity, etc.) necessary for ensuring: (1) that seeds maximally germinate in the plant habitat; and (2) that seedlings continue to uniformly grow up to 21 days allowing for the collection of relevant measures on crop stand quality using the proposed monitoring concepts/technology. Plants in future space controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) will be grown under a reduced pressure exploration atmosphere of 56.5 kPa (8.2 psia), 34% O2, and 66% N2. Investigators who integrate this exploration atmosphere into their small plant habitat engineering concepts will, therefore, be viewed favorably.