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

Paul Szymkowiak paulszym+cchs at gmail.com
Thu Sep 6 00:15:23 CEST 2012


also in SMT flavours, but  apparently not as bright:

  http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/290741652723
  http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/251024873978
  http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/261092332506


On 6 September 2012 08:04, Paul Szymkowiak <paulszym+cchs at gmail.com> wrote:

> > Also you need UV for vitamin d production which cannot be produced by
> leds...for now.
>
> Would these not be suitable?
>
>    http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/200609595424
>    http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/271023896302
>
>
> Paul
>
> Paul Szymkowiak
> gplus.to/paulzee
> twitter.com/paulzee
>  <http://twitter.com/smartenergywins>twitter.com/hackmelbourne
>
>
>
> On 5 September 2012 09:07, 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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