Modeling and Design of Optimal Growth Media from Plant - Based Gas and Liquid Fluxes

Jones, Scott B.; Heinse, Robert; Bingham, Gail E.; Or, Dani

doi:10.4271/2005-01-2949

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…The substrates tested manifested a proper container capacity, except the cotton wool that showed a tendency to water repellence and collapse phenomena during the permeability test. The lack of structure of cotton implies an unstable pore spaces system, while the use of porous media with prescribed and stable pore spaces is a key principle for reliable management of substrates in microgravity (Jones et al, 2005).…”

Section: Discussion Substrates Hydrological Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

Design of a Module for Cultivation of Tuberous Plants in Microgravity: The ESA Project “Precursor of Food Production Unit” (PFPU)

Paradiso

Ceriello²,

Pannico

et al. 2020

Front. Plant Sci.

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Plant cultivation systems for Bioregenerative Life-Support Systems in Space developed on Earth need to be tested in space, where reduced gravity alters the liquid and gas behavior both within the plant and between the plant and its surrounding environment, making the distribution of water and nutrients a critical issue. The ESA project "Precursor of Food Production Unit" (PFPU) aims to design a modular cultivation system for edible tuberous plants (such as potato and sweet potato) in microgravity, to be preliminary tested in ground conditions in the view of successive space application. Among the different modules of the PFPU demonstrator, the Root Module (RM) is the component physically hosting the plant and accommodating tubers and roots. This paper describes the step-by-step procedure adopted to realize the RM, including the design, the building, and the ground testing of its prototype. Specifically, the hydrological characterization of possible cultivation substrates, the setup of the water distribution system, and the validation test of the assembled prototype in a tuber-to-tuber growing cycle of potato plants are described. Among six substrates tested, including three organic materials and three synthetic materials, cellulosic sponge was selected as the best one, based on the hydrological behavior in terms of air and water transport and water retention capacity. The water sensor WaterScout was successfully calibrated to monitor the water status in cellulosic sponge and to drive irrigation and fertigation management. The designed porous tubes-based distribution system, integrated with water sensors, was able to provide water or nutrient solution in a timely and uniform way in cellulosic sponge.

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Section: Discussion Substrates Hydrological Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

Design of a Module for Cultivation of Tuberous Plants in Microgravity: The ESA Project “Precursor of Food Production Unit” (PFPU)

Paradiso

Ceriello²,

Pannico

et al. 2020

Front. Plant Sci.

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“…Based on the water characteristic obtained from ground-based (1-g) and parabolic flight (µ-g) measurements, Jones et al (2005) noted a shift in air-entry pressure under reduced gravity, and proposed linear scaling of the air entry value, α -1 (cm), with respect to gravity:…”

Section: Water Characteristic and Pore Size Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling gravity effects on water retention and gas transport characteristics in plant growth substrates

Deepagoda

Jones

Tuller

et al. 2014

Advances in Space Research

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Growing plants to facilitate life in outer space, for example on the International Space Station (ISS) or at planned deep-space human outposts on the Moon or Mars, has received much attention with regard to NASA's advanced life support system research. With the objective of in situ resource utilization to conserve energy and to limit transport costs, native materials mined on Moon or Mars are of primary interest for plant growth media in a future outpost, while terrestrial porous substrates with optimal growth media characteristics will be useful for onboard plant growth during space missions. Due to limited experimental opportunities and prohibitive costs, liquid and gas behavior in porous substrates under reduced gravity conditions has been less studied and hence remains poorly understood. Based on ground-based measurements, this study

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“…Given that estimates for α varied significantly between the Flat and Round cell estimates, definitive conclusions cannot be drawn based on the available observations without further verification. Results do, however, suggest that the air‐entry value (inverse of α) does not scale with the gravitational force, as suggested by Jones et al (2005) and used by Chamindu Deepagoda et al (2014). For drying conditions, no significant differences were noted for estimates of α in the three media, with significant differences in the estimates for the parameter n for Mix and Profile.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 66%

“…Vigorous plant growth requires the favorable sustenance through fluxes of water, nutrients and gas exchanges by selection of an optimum (or least‐restricting) root‐zone substrate and maintenance of optimum water content. The challenge is to maximize the inversely related processes of gas and liquid transport (Jones and Or, 1998; Jones et al, 2005). If exposing root‐zone substrates to reduced gravitational accelerations, the question arises whether optimum conditions derived under terrestrial conditions are different.…”

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confidence: 99%

Microgravity Oxygen Diffusion and Water Retention Measurements in Unsaturated Porous Media aboard the International Space Station

Heinse

Jones

Or³

et al. 2015

Vadose Zone Journal

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Water distribution patterns in pore spaces of particulate porous media directly control the resulting diffusion pathway for air required for biological activity (e.g., plant root respiration). Motivated by the potential of using plants for future life-support systems in space, the question arises whether luid behavior in porous media is signiicantly altered under microgravity (»10 −6 g earth ) conditions. Altered luid phase distribution has been suspected in the onset of hypoxia in plant root modules under microgravity, yet the exact mechanisms remain uncertain. The Optimization of Root Zone Substrates (ORZS) experiment was the irst to directly measure porous-media water retention and oxygen diffusion parameters under prolonged microgravity conditions (suficient for equilibration of the luid phases). Porous-ceramic aggregates tested included 1-to 2-mm Tur face, 0.25 -to 1-mm Proile, and a 50:50 mixture of both.Each porous medium had three replicates in a nine-cell array. The experiment used sealed dual-chamber diffusion cells controlled by an automated measurement system with water-content adjustment. Sensors measured matric potentials and water input or withdrawal in the media, along with oxygen concentrations dynamics in the gas-illed chambers conining the medium. The effective oxygen-diffusion coeficients were determined from temporal variations in measured oxygen-concentrations itted to a Fickian-type relationship for the dual-chamber geometry. Ground-based determinations of matric potential and diffusion coeficients as a function of air-illed porosity were compared to microgravity data. Results pointed to enhanced hysteresis in the oxygen-diffusion dependency on bulk air-illed porosity in microgravity indicative of altered water-distribution patterns relative to Earth-based measurements. During drying we observed fundamentally different diffusivities in Proile and Mix attributed to nonuniform water distributions forming under drying conditions dominated by capillary and viscous forces in the absence of a hydrostatic force not observed on Earth. Water-retention parameters were not signiicantly different from Earth-based parameters, although gas diffusion parameters were signiicantly different for iner particle-sized media. The apparent reduction in the volume-averaged diffusive transport in microgravity may require adjustment in plant-growth system management protocols and model development for reliable response prediction of microgravity porous-medium systems.Predicting distribution and transport of luids in porous media under reduced conditions is vitally important for optimal design and management of root-zone hydration systems for plant-based extraterrestrial life support. Vigorous plant growth requires the favorable sustenance through luxes of water, nutrients and gas exchanges by selection of an optimum (or least-restricting) root-zone substrate and maintenance of optimum water content. he challenge is to maximize the inversely related processes of gas andWe present oxygen diffusion and water retention ...

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Modeling and Design of Optimal Growth Media from Plant - Based Gas and Liquid Fluxes

Cited by 9 publications

References 25 publications

Design of a Module for Cultivation of Tuberous Plants in Microgravity: The ESA Project “Precursor of Food Production Unit” (PFPU)

Design of a Module for Cultivation of Tuberous Plants in Microgravity: The ESA Project “Precursor of Food Production Unit” (PFPU)

Modeling gravity effects on water retention and gas transport characteristics in plant growth substrates

Microgravity Oxygen Diffusion and Water Retention Measurements in Unsaturated Porous Media aboard the International Space Station

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