Technical Paper
Performance of the Advanced ASTROCULTURE™ Plant Growth Unit During ISS-6A/7A Mission
2002-07-15
2002-01-2280
With the help of Space Product Development Program at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, the Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics (WCSAR) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has developed the Advanced ASTROCULTURE™ (ADVASC) plant growth unit, which is dedicated to conducting commercial or fundamental plant growth research on board the International Space Station (ISS). ADVASC provides an enclosed, environmentally controlled plant growth chamber with controlled parameters of temperature, relative humidity, light intensity, fluid nutrient delivery, and CO2 and hydrocarbon (ethylene) concentrations. Auto-prime technology eliminates the need for electrical power during Shuttle ascent/descent, and therefore greatly relieves the shortage of Shuttle resources and ISS crew time. State-of-the-art control software combined with fault tolerance and recovery algorithm significantly increases overall system robustness and efficiency.