This project is solving the Deployable Greenhouse challenge.
Description
Deployment
Our initial designs would require a simple deployment into the atmosphere. On deployment from the initial rocket/propolusion system, 'TheGreenhou.se' would enter the atmosphere, deploy parachutes, and soft land onto the surface. As it enters the atmosphere, one option would be to open louvers as intake valves, with the high velocity entry, and collect pressurized atmosphere for use in inflating 'TheGreenhou.se'.
On landing, we check to make sure that we landed correctly and not upside down. If upside down, we inflate a specific way to self right the entire structure. 'TheGreenhou.se' would self-inflate using the captured atmosphere on entry, or by having an on-board compressor to bring in the atmosphere (95% CO2). One other method would be our origami style structure that would spin on its floor to engage and push the walls itself outward and upward to create the dome structure.
Once the structure is fully deployed, the interior atmosphere is created by pulling in external atmosphere and separating into Carbon Dioxide, Oxygen, Nitrogen and mixing these separated gasses with the on-board Hydrogen tank to create a new ratio that would simulate Earth's atmosphere.
By bringing a type of nuclear power source and the nano power technology, we would be able to either power internal heaters or pull heat from the nuclear source, and by able to regulate environment, temperature, humidity, and pressure.
Plants are pre-planted in growth media (cotton or hemp), and once atmosphere is created and temperature is controlled, watering of plants can be commenced to start the growth process. The planting surface is raised from the ground level to allow plants that grow underground (Carrots, Potatoes, Etc) to be harvested easily by an automated system under the tables.
Crops
When determining crops, we are researching multiple criteria. These criteria are:
- O2 Output Per Plant
- H2O Consumption Per Plant
- Light Consumption
- CO2 Consumption
- Growth Media
- Life Expectancy
- Nutritional Value
The crops we are looking to research more into are potatoes, carrots, soybean, algae, and mushrooms.
Atmosphere
Non-cryogenic air separation processes are most likely to be a suitable and cost effective choice when high purity product is not required and/or when the required production rate is relatively small.
Non-cryogenic processes use physical properties other than boiling point to separate and purify components of air at close-to-ambient temperature. Systems belong to one of two major technology categories: adsorption processes and membrane diffusion-separation systems. Adsorption-based processes may be described using a number of generic names (Pressure Swing Adsorption or PSA, Vacuum Swing Adsorption or VSA, Vacuum-Pressure Swing Adsorption or VPSA) or by trade names. The same holds true for Membrane separation systems.
PSA, VSA and VPSA systems use differences in adsorption of gases on specially-fabricated materials to make the desired separations. Different adsorbents are used for oxygen and nitrogen generation, but the physical appearance and operating principles of the systems are similar.
Membrane systems use differences in diffusion rates between, for instance, oxygen and nitrogen or hydrogen and CO2 through the walls of specially designed and fabricated hollow polymer tubes.
Please check our website for more information!
Project Information
License: Common Development and Distribution LicenseSource Code/Project URL: https://github.com/necrolyte/thegreenhou.se