Biomimetic transfer of plant roots for planetary anchoring

Paper number

IAC-08.D3.3.7

Author

Dr. Tobias Seidl, European Space Agency (ESA), The Netherlands

Year

2008

Abstract

Plants represent a major fraction of living beings on Earth and have conquered
almost any surface on our planet. Although they cannot actively move, plants
usually are the first settlers in a hostile environment, making path for a habitat
that can then be settled by all kinds of animals. After having been placed into a
new environment - usually as a seed and being transported passively - they need
to anchor in the substrate and exploit the available resources in order to grow.
From this description it becomes clear, that their roots play an important role for
a successful establishment of a new plant. The roots need to provide mechanical
anchoring, preferably adaptive to changing size of the stem above ground. Each
single root has to move through the substrate, orienting along the gravity vector,
negotiating obstacles, and locating resources at the same time with balancing the
external loads applied. The entire behaviour is achieved by an osmotic actuation
system that is steered by a distributed set of simple controllers in the tip of each
root apex.
 
During a planetary mission, a spacecraft can be seen as going through similar
stages as a plant in the beginning of its life. After having landed, the once mobile
spacecraft might anchor and probe the substrate for scientific reasons. Inspired
by this analogy, a team of biologists and engineers investigated both the actuation and the control
mechanisms of plant roots in the focus of a biomimetic transfer for conceptually
novel anchoring solutions for exploratory spacecraft. Our findings presented here
might play an important role in the light of autonomous behaviour, multifunctional
solutions and the aim to establish continuous extraterrestrial planetary outposts.

Abstract document

IAC-08.D3.3.7.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-08.D3.3.7.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.