Operating a Space Greenhouse for 12 Months in Antarctica
- Paper number
IAC-19,B3,8-GTS.2,2,x53633
- Author
Mr. Paul Zabel, Germany, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR)
- Year
2019
- Abstract
The author lived and worked for 12 months in Antarctica in 2018 of which nine months with only nine other people and no connection (ship, aircraft) to the rest of the world. During that time the author was the only on-site operator of the EDEN ISS greenhouse. This greenhouse is a test facility for future plant cultivation systems on human space missions onboard the ISS and to Moon and Mars. The greenhouse is incorporated in two interconnected 20 foot shipping containers and positioned around 400 meters away from the German Neumayer III Antarctic research station. All subsystems required for plant cultivation are inside this so called Mobile Test Facility. The cultivation area of around 12.5 m² is arranged in a shelf-like structure in one of the containers, while the other container houses the subsystems and a small working area. In his time in Antarctica it was the responsibility of the author to maintain all functions of the facility, to cultivate various plants and to execute numerous experiments. The situation is similar to what future astronauts will experience when e.g. living and working on the Martian surface for several months. This paper describes the experiences on working in a greenhouse on a space analogue mission and living in isolation in the harsh environment of Antarctica from the author’s point of view. The challenges of such a mission are explained and implications for future space mission described.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
(absent)