GreenSat: CubeSat Platform for Biological and Agricultural Experiments

Paper number

IAC-17,D3,3,11,x38518

Author

Mr. Benjamin Koschnick, UNSW Australia, Australia

Coauthor

Mr. Noor Huq, University of New South Wales, Australia

Coauthor

Ms. Scarlett Li-Williams, UNSW Australia, Australia

Coauthor

Mr. Nathan Kristian, UNSW Australia, Australia

Coauthor

Mr. Anuraj Talati, UNSW Australia, Australia

Coauthor

Ms. Jessica Tam, UNSW Australia, Australia

Coauthor

Mr. Rohan Murthy, Australia

Coauthor

Ms. Yasmin Akhtar, University of New South Wales, Australia

Coauthor

Mr. Jing Li, Australia

Coauthor

Ms. Irina Kozlova, UNSW Australia, Australia

Coauthor

Ms. Anna Piskunova, UNSW Australia, Australia

Coauthor

Ms. Yasmin Zaman, UNSW Australia, Australia

Coauthor

Mr. Alexander Kowcz Rosinke, UNSW Australia, Australia

Coauthor

Dr. Elias Aboutanios, University of New South Wales, Australia

Year

2017

Abstract

With the success of the International Space Station and the world’s sights set on a manned mission to Mars, long-term spaceflight is becoming more routine. The recent boom in interest in asteroid mining promises to provide astronauts with materials and fuel for their journey. The lack of food production in space will eventually become a significant hurdle. To colonise space and remove astronauts’ dependence on supplies from Earth, vast quantities of food will need to be produced in the space environment. This requires a great deal of understanding in how plants and other organisms react to the space environment. However, in the present day, access to the space environment is limited due to the costs of spacecraft and launch.

GreenSat will provide a controlled environment aboard a CubeSat for biological and agricultural experiments in space. The satellite will provide a suitable environment in space for a biological system of microbes and plant life to grow and flourish using a minimalistic design. This paper aims to assess the feasibility of building a platform that can house any isolated biological system for experiments in space. Ethical and regulatory concerns, particularly related to preventing contamination of the space environment will be considered in addition to engineering.

This satellite will provide artificial gravity through rotation, protection from radiation, atmospheric control and either natural or artificial sunlight. Sensors will collect data from the payload which will then be sent to researchers on the ground for study.

GreenSat will be developed by BLUEsat, a student run space projects society at the University of New South Wales Australia. It will provide a simple, elegant testbed for understanding the process of growing food in the space environment. If successful, the knowledge gained can be applied to providing large-scale agriculture to support human colonisation in the far reaches of space. BLUEsat is accepting proposals for experiments to be conducted aboard GreenSat.

Abstract document

IAC-17,D3,3,11,x38518.brief.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-17,D3,3,11,x38518.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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