[SpaceProgram] Fwd: Space Farmers: LEDs As Key To NASA's Permanent Lunar Life Support - Forbes

[cole santos]

Would be nice to gmo chlorella to produce flavanoids that make
it taste better and add genes for more nutrient production.

On Wed, Sep 5, 2012 at 1:07 PM, cole santos <cksantos85 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Why use a rotating array? Your plants will quickly outgrow such a small
> area. Make sure to use at least 3w leds or you wont get enough canopy
> penetration. Also you need UV for vitamin d production which cannot be
> produced by leds...for now. Check out plasma lighting, more efficient that
> LED. For hydroponics I am working on integrating organic nutrient sources
> such as fish effluent, biogas effluent, and human waste products. For space
> applications we need aeroponics to reduce total required water volume. To
> do aeroponics with organic nutrient sources you need an atomizer
> that doesn't clog. Looking into centrifugal atomizers atm. But in reality
> food production is a luxury when you can eat chlorella exclusively.
> Chlorella is easy to grow and is the most efficient method of co2 removal
> and o2 production by volume of area required. Hence my algae reactor
> project.
>
> On Wed, Sep 5, 2012 at 11:30 AM, Matt Joyce <matt at nycresistor.com> wrote:
>
>> Some folks at NYC Resistor were working on a growing apparatus using a
>> rotating array of leds operating at different wavelengths.
>>
>> pic of it... behind and to the left ( looking at me ) of my glorious
>> visage.
>>
>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/openfly/7558683614/
>>
>> I'd love to see something like a git project setup for space based
>> growing testing kits.
>>
>> Throw in some STL / code / eagle etc for some citizen science style
>> testing.... aka repeatable experimentation.  And we have some real
>> live testing of procedures for open source scientific research into
>> how to grow stuff in hazardous areas safely.
>>
>> I think that would be a great easy enough project to get into.  And it
>> would probably iron out some of the kinks in getting a bunch of people
>> to be able to contribute to a much larger goal.
>>
>> -Matt
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 2:25 PM, cole santos <cksantos85 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > I have nothing running ATM but I did a lot of monoculture algae work
>> when I
>> > was in aquaculture program at UH
>> >
>> >
>> http://contrails.iit.edu/DigitalCollection/1962/AMRLTDR62-116article03.pdf
>> >
>> > This is where I got my ideas.
>> >
>> > My test reactor is going to be 18" x 24" x .2"
>> >
>> > Man sized reactor will be 24" x 48" x .2-.09 with ~20 of them in
>> parallel.
>> >
>> > Algae will be extracted via this device.
>> >
>> > http://www.parc.com/services/focus-area/clean-water/
>> >
>> > and o2 / co2 / vox will be monitored by sensors on arduino control.
>> >
>> > Short term plan is to replicate the boeing experiment and adapt for
>> longer
>> > term production
>> >
>> > Longer term, utilizing human wastewater as a nutrient supply and
>> electricity
>> > source with waterwater fuel cells.
>> >
>> > Each project is part of a larger plan for a compact biological closed
>> cycle
>> > habitat.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > On Wed, Sep 5, 2012 at 11:10 AM, Máté Ravasz <ravaszmeister at gmail.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Hi,
>> >>
>> >> I've just started to build up my own algae cultures at home last month.
>> >> Seeing your post on how far you've progressed already in this, I
>> immediately
>> >> became jealous. Would you by any chance have any publicly available
>> data on
>> >> how your setup runs? I am building a sunlight powered reactor at the
>> moment,
>> >> but I would be eager to read up on more advanced methods if possible.
>> >>
>> >> Thanks for any info,
>> >> Mat
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> On 4 September 2012 22:48, cole santos <cksantos85 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>> For big area lighting plasma is more efficient than leds.
>> >>> http://www.plasma-i.com/index.html
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> On Wed, Sep 5, 2012 at 10:46 AM, cole santos <cksantos85 at gmail.com>
>> >>> wrote:
>> >>>>
>> >>>> LED's are more expensive than florescents...and that is after order
>> of
>> >>>> magnitude reductions in cost over the last few years. I found some
>> vendors
>> >>>> in china for LED lights. Florescent technology requires bulb changes
>> every 6
>> >>>> months to a year, this makes it unworkable for space, but good for
>> earth
>> >>>> testing. LED research on optimal spectrum for algae growth is an open
>> >>>> research field. Another problem is the design for my algae reactors
>> needs
>> >>>> lights that are 360, but leds are about 130 deg. a bi directional
>> light
>> >>>> would cost a lot more due to custom nature of such a light, another
>> option
>> >>>> is to just stack 2 lights back to back... but now you've doubled you
>> costs
>> >>>> and lighting is more that 50% of the total cost.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> On Wed, Sep 5, 2012 at 10:25 AM, Jerry Isdale <isdale at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> Growing in space requires light. Space stations may be able to
>> orient
>> >>>>> themselves for full time growing but Colonies on moons, etc will
>> need some
>> >>>>> power source for when their rotation takes them into night (moon
>> night = 2
>> >>>>> weeks).
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> This article talks about using LEDs powered from a small nuclear
>> power
>> >>>>> source, similar to that powering the Curiosity Rover.
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>>
>> http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucedorminey/2012/08/31/space-farmers-leds-as-key-to-nasas-permanent-lunar-life-support/
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> Jerry Isdale
>> >>>>> isdale at gmail.com
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>>
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>> >>>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
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