Controlled environment life support system: Calcium-related leaf injuries on plants

Calcium related injuries to plants grown in controlled environments under conditions which maximize plant growth rates are described. Procedures to encourage movement of calcium into developing leaves of lettuce plants were investigated. The time course and pattern of calcium accumulation was determined to develop effective control procedures for this injury, termed tipburn. Procedures investigated were: (1) increasing the relative humidity to saturation during the dark period and altering root temperatures, (2) maximizing water stress during light and minimizing water stress during dark periods, (3) shortening the light-dark cycle lengths in combination with elevated moisture levels during the dark cycles, (4) reducing nutrient concentrations and (5) vibrating the plants. Saturated humidities at night increased the rate of growth and the large fluctuation in plant water potential encouraged calcium movement to the young leaves and delayed tipburn. Root temperature regulation between 15 and 26 C was not effective in preventing tipburn. Attempts to modulate water stress produced little variation, but no difference in tipburn development. Variations in light-dark cycle lengths also had no effect on calcium concentrations within developing leaves and no variation in tipburn development. Low concentrations of nutrient solution delayed tipburn, presumably because of greater calcium transport in the low concentration plants. Shaking of the plants did not prevent tipburn, but did delay it slightly

Utilization of potatoes in CELSS: Productivity and growing systems

The potato plant (solanum tuberosum L.) is one of the basic food crops that should be studied for use in NASA's closed Ecological Life Support System (CELSS). It offers high yields per unit area and time, with most of this production in the form of highly digestible carbohydrate. Potatoes, like wheat and rice, are particularly useful in human diets because of their nutritional versatility and ease of processing and preparation. The growth of the potato was studied and it was found to be a useful species for life support systems

Scenarios for optimizing potato productivity in a lunar CELSS

The use of controlled ecological life support system (CELSS) in the development and growth of large-scale bases on the Moon will reduce the expense of supplying life support materials from Earth. Such systems would use plants to produce food and oxygen, remove carbon dioxide, and recycle water and minerals. In a lunar CELSS, several factors are likely to be limiting to plant productivity, including the availability of growing area, electrical power, and lamp/ballast weight for lighting systems. Several management scenarios are outlined in this discussion for the production of potatoes based on their response to irradiance, photoperiod, and carbon dioxide concentration. Management scenarios that use 12-hr photoperiods, high carbon dioxide concentrations, and movable lamp banks to alternately irradiate halves of the growing area appear to be the most efficient in terms of growing area, electrical power, and lamp weights. However, the optimal scenario will be dependent upon the relative 'costs' of each factor

Potential of derived lunar volatiles for life support

The lunar regolith contains small quantities of solar wind implanted volatile compounds that have vital, basic uses for maintaining life support systems of lunar or space settlements. Recent proposals to utilize the helium-3 isotope (He-3) derived from the lunar regolith as a fuel for fusion reactors would result in the availability of large quantities of other lunar volatile compounds. The quantities obtained would provide the annual life support replacement requirements of 1150 to 23,000 inhabitants per ton of He-3 recovered, depending on the volatile compound. Utilization of the lunar volatile compounds for life support depends on the costs, in terms of materials and energy, associated with their extraction from the lunar regolith as compared to the delivery costs of these compounds from Earth resources. Considering today's conservative estimated transportation costs ($10,000 dollars per kilogram) and regolith mining costs ($5 dollars per ton), the life support replacement requirements could be more economically supplied by recovering the lunar volatile compounds than transporting these materials from Earth resources, even before He-3 will be utilized as a fusion fuel. In addition, availability of lunar volatile compounds could have a significant cost impact on maintaining the life support systems of the space station and a Mars base

Growth of potatoes for CELSS

This report summarizes research on the utilization of white potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) for space life support systems at the University of Wisconsin-Madison over the period of 1984 to 1993. At full maturity the tuber productivity was 37.5 gm(exp -2) d(exp -1), equating to a growing area requirement for one human (2800 kcal d(exp -1)) of 10.1 m(exp -2). A recirculating nutrient system using slanted trays produced best potato growth and tuber yields when a 2-3 cm layer of gravel or arcillite media was utilized. Potato production was close to maximum under lighting levels of 400 micromol m(exp -2) s(exp -1) of photosynthetic photo flux (PPF) for 24 hours or 800 micromol m(exp -2) s(exp -1) for 12 hours, alternating diurnal temperatures of 22 C and 14 C, relative humidity of 85 percent, and a carbon dioxide level of 1000 micromol m(exp -1). The range of effective concentrations of each separate nutrient is reported. The extensive studies with potatoes in this project have demonstrated that this crop has high productivity of nutritous tubers with a high harvest index in controlled environments, and can fulfill a significant portion of the energy and protein requirements for humans in space

Coping with the Cold: An Ecological Context for the Abundance and Distribution of Rock Sandpipers during Winter in Upper Cook Inlet, Alaska

Shorebirds are conspicuous and abundant at high northern latitudes during spring and summer, but as seasonal conditions deteriorate, few remain during winter. To the best of our knowledge, Cook Inlet, Alaska (60.6˚ N, 151.6˚ W), is the world’s coldest site that regularly supports wintering populations of shorebirds, and it is also the most northerly nonbreeding location for shorebirds in the Pacific Basin. During the winters of 1997–2012, we conducted aerial surveys of upper Cook Inlet to document the spatial and temporal distribution and number of Rock Sandpipers (Calidris ptilocnemis) using the inlet. The average survey total was 8191 ± 6143 SD birds, and the average of each winter season’s highest single-day count was 13 603 ± 4948 SD birds. We detected only Rock Sandpipers during our surveys, essentially all of which were individuals of the nominate subspecies (C. p. ptilocnemis). Survey totals in some winters closely matched the population estimate for this subspecies, demonstrating the region’s importance as a nonbreeding resource to the subspecies. Birds were most often found at only a handful of sites in upper Cook Inlet, but shifted their distribution to more southerly locations in the inlet during periods of extreme cold. Two environmental factors allow Rock Sandpipers to inhabit Cook Inlet during winter: 1) an abundant bivalve (Macoma balthica) food source and 2) current and tidal dynamics that keep foraging substrates accessible during all but extreme periods of cold and ice accretion. C. p. ptilocnemis is a subspecies of high conservation concern for which annual winter surveys may serve as a relatively inexpensive population-monitoring tool that will also provide insight into adaptations that allow these birds to exploit high-latitude environments in winter.Le printemps et l’été, les oiseaux de rivage abondent et sont bien en vue dans les latitudes de l’extrême nord, mais au fur et à mesure que les conditions saisonnières se détériorent, peu d’entre eux hivernent dans ces régions. Au meilleur de nos connaissances, l’anse Cook, en Alaska (60,6˚ N, 151,6˚ O), est l’endroit le plus froid du monde où l’on trouve régulièrement des populations d’oiseaux de rivage l’hiver. Il s’agit aussi de l’emplacement le plus nordique du bassin du Pacifique à ne pas être consacré à la reproduction des oiseaux de rivage. Au cours des hivers allant de 1997 à 2012, nous avons réalisé des levés aériens de la partie supérieure de l’anse Cook afin d’être en mesure de répertorier la répartition spatiale, la répartition temporelle et le nombre de bécasseaux des Aléoutiennes (Calidris ptilocnemis) dans l’anse. Le total moyen des levés a permis de repérer8 191 ± 6 143 (DS) oiseaux, tandis que la moyenne du dénombrement le plus élevé au cours d’une seule journée d’hiver était de 13 603 ± 4 948 (DS) oiseaux. Dans le cadre de nos levés, nous n’avons détecté que des bécasseaux des Aléoutiennes, dont tous étaient essentiellement des individus de la sous-espèce désignée (C. p. ptilocnemis). Au cours de certains hivers, les totaux des levés se rapprochaient beaucoup des estimations de population de cette sous-espèce, ce qui laisse entrevoir l’importance de cette région en tant que ressource de non-reproduction pour cette sous-espèce. La plupart du temps, ces oiseaux ne se retrouvaient qu’à quelques endroits de la partie supérieure de l’anse Cook, bien qu’ils se répartissaient plus au sud de l’anse pendant les périodes de froid extrême. Deux facteurs environnementaux permettent aux bécasseaux des Aléoutiennes d’évoluer dans l’anse Cook l’hiver : 1) une source abondante de nourriture acéphale (Macoma balthica) et 2) une dynamique de courants et de marées qui a constamment pour effet d’alimenter les oiseaux en substrat pendant toutes les périodes, sauf celles de froid extrême et d’accrétion de glace. C. p. ptilocnemis est une sous-espèce dont la conservation présente de grandes inquiétudes et pour laquelle les levés hivernaux annuels peuvent constituer un outil de surveillance de population relativement abordable qui permettra également d’en savoir plus sur les adaptations qui permettent à ces oiseaux d’exploiter les milieux de haute latitude l’hiver