Creating a microgreen growing environment at the space station

Abstract

Plants are essential types of human nutrition, both in terrestrial and in space station conditions. The cultivation of plant foods in space conditions at the near-Earth stations has become possible due to the modern achievements in agricultural technologies. The proposed article aims to study the creation of optimal conditions for growing plants used in human nutrition in the space stations. In the work, a selection of plants and soil types for space station conditions was made. For this purpose, a three-stage experiment was carried out. In the first experiment, an experimental method was exploited to select the types of plants that are most suitable for growing under extreme conditions. The composition and structure of the soil were determined experimentally. It is shown that hydrogel can be used to accumulate water in space station conditions and can be a suitable medium for growing plants. Studies have shown that just hydrogel (without any nutrient mixtures) can promote plant growth. At the second stage of research, plants were successfully grown on the mixture of the hydrogel and the soil. In the third experiment, the authors added biostimulants and organic products to the hydrogel, and as a result, there was an increase in the speed and stability of plant growth. The experimental prototype of the container for growing plants in space conditions, which was tested in the above experiments, created by the authors, is shown.