Lunar Plant Growth Experiment (LPX)Testing

No plant-based biological spaceflight experiment has ever hydrated seeds in lunar gravity. Risk of bubbles or of uneven dispersion were deemed too great. This flight opportunity helps verify the microfluidics delivery system will disperse water to all seeds under lunar gravity. This experiment will be a first step towards a watering system for the Moon.

NASA Center Innovation Fund 2013 Award Problem Statement Our mission objective is to grow the first plants on the Moon. To study germination in lunar gravity and radiation, we have constructed a small technology demonstration habitat. The self-contained habitat has a mass of about 1 kg and is a planned payload on a commercial lunar lander – Moon Express, part of the Google Lunar X-prize competition. It is slated to land on the Moon in 2015. The habitat, once flown, will be valuable as a module to be used on other flight opportunities for LEO, the Moon, and Mars. Technology Maturation The hardware has successfully completed Critical Design Review (CDR). Flight tests of the proto flight unit must be completed before spacecraft integration begins. The Lunar Plants team has identified a parabolic flight including a lunar g-level lasting 20 seconds as desirable to reduce risk. This opportunity will be used to test the water delivery and photographic verification systems will work in lunar gravity after being subject to microgravity.

The microfluidics delivery technology to distribute water in lunar gravity to germinate seeds is another step toward crop-food production in space, benefitting future NASA missions. Future Customers Potential users include HEOMD’s space life sciences payloads for ISS centrifuges, the Moon and beyond.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 6) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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