Maximum Yield Cannabis Canada 2017 November/December | Page 29

The edibles—everything from strawberries to sweet pota-
toes, peanuts, and peppers—are of the type that could grow
on a trip to the moon or the Red Planet. They’re housed
inside a large cylinder that would ride along with either
robots or astronauts on their extended journey.
Because a hydroponic system and a controlled-environ-
ment grow area can provide yields of up to 10 times higher
than an open field, feeding a crew of space explorers for
months on end isn’t just science fiction. That kind of inge-
nuity is already being applied to earthbound applications,
such as enhancing global food security and providing fresh,
locally grown food to large urban centres.
“Growing ‘Martian food’ is our day job,” says horticultural
engineer Gene Giacomelli, co-principal investigator for the
grant that reached a tentative terminus last month. “At some
point, people will travel to live and work on another planet,
and when they do, they’ll need to grow their own food. That’s
what we do here every day.”
Or did. The grant funding was depleted at the end of
September. “We’ve been cobbling money together piecemeal
since 2000,” says Giacomelli. That’s when NASA considered
about 20 proposals for grant funds and the CEAC Extreme
Climate Laboratory received about $70,000 from the Ralph
Steckler Space Grant Colonization Research and Technology
Development program to get started. In Phase II funding,
the University of Arizona made the short list for US$250,000,
with another US$275,000 that followed in Phase III.
“When we first applied, we sent data and photos of
how our controlled-environment unit was already built
and working, so we requested to be allowed to continue
and expand our effort,” says Giacomelli. “We took the
capabilities of hydroponics, controlled environments, and
their computerization and put it together in a format that
created an 18-foot-long by 8-foot-diameter structure that is
lightweight—300 pounds when empty—and in a cylindrical
shape that NASA could appreciate.”
The unit can be auto-deployed and tended to by a robot.
It’s collapsible and stowable so it can be shipped, and in the
distant future, be automatica lly deployed anywhere before
human beings from this planet arrive to inhabit a distant
land. Once landed, the unit would activate itself, inflate, and
water would be turned on to start seeds sprouting.
This is a robust fibre factory, a very workable food
production unit. “You could call it a Food Robot if you
want to because it’s automated,” says Giacomelli. We’ve
developed a control system that turns it on and off with
minimal work required from any living being. In fact, we
only go inside once a week for an hour to harvest nutrient-
rich crops filled with vitamins and minerals.”
Each technological advancement became a stepping stone
to the next. “We could show how much effort, cost, and need
for automation was required to make this food system most
efficient to the point that it used minimal resources and
could function on another planet.”
Sadler Machine Company built the lunar greenhouse.
Phil Sadler is a veteran of prototype production, having
previously built CEAC’s South Pole Growth Chamber, where
many ideas used in the lunar greenhouse were developed.
The South Pole grow structure supplies fresh food to the
research station that is cut off from the outside world for half
a year at a time, so production, recycling, and an efficient
use of resources are just as important at the South Pole
operation as they will be on other planets.
“
BECAUSE A HYDROPONIC SYSTEM AND A
CONTROLLED-ENVIRONMENT GROW AREA
CAN PROVIDE YIELDS OF UP TO 10 TIMES
HIGHER THAN AN OPEN FIELD, FEEDING A
CREW OF SPACE EXPLORERS FOR MONTHS
ON END ISN’T JUST SCIENCE FICTION.”
Mars-Lunar Greenhouse project coordinator Gene Giacomelli says
“Growing ‘Martian food’ is our day job.”
feature
29