This is our annual report to the North Central Extension Research Activity, which is affiliated with the USDA and Land Grant University Agricultural Experiment Stations. I have been a member of this committee for 25 years. The presentation will be given by Dr. Gioia Massa, Kennedy Space Cente

Massa, Gioia D.

Wheeler, Raymond M.

NASA Technical Reports Server

U. Alaska Fairbanks                                                                                                       Apr. 2014
  
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NCERA-101 STATION REPORT FROM KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL, USA (Mar. 2014) 
Impact Nugget: 
The Veggie Vegetable production system built by ORBITEC has been tested at KSC for flight and will soon be 
installed on the International Space Station (ISS).  The hardware validation test for Veggie will be conducted with red 
romaine lettuce, which the crew will harvest, freeze, and return to Earth for food safety analysis.   
 
Facility Description:
The Space Life Sciences Lab (SLSL) Controlled Environment Lab (CEL) has been operational for 9 ½ years 
(commissioned Sept. 2003) and provides 622+ ft2 (58 m2) of controlled environment chamber space.  The CEL 
provides support to both basic and applied research with emphasis on ground-based and space applications.  NASA has 
returned operations of the SLSL to Space Florida, the agents representing the State of Florida.   
 
Kennedy Space Center (KSC) management has moved the biological research group from the Space Life Sciences Lab 
(SLSL) to other facilities on the main part of KSC. Whether we can continue to use the growth chambers in the SLSL 
building, remains to be determined, however these represent the only large plant walk-in facilities available for 
continuous use at KSC.  The large ISS Environment Simulator Chambers are reserved for conducting verification tests 
and ground controls of flight experiments.  Several small reach-in chambers have been moved from the SLSL to other 
buildings at KSC.  All of the associated life support biology and chemistry labs have been moved.  Stay tuned for 
further developments. 
 
New Equipment / Sensors / Control Systems: 
 We received 30 PAR 38 dimmable LED lamps from Lighting Sciences Group (www.lsgc.com).  These lamps operate 
in standard incandescent fixtures with household dimmers and we obtained lamps of either red or blue LEDS as well as 
three different red:blue ratios for use in plant dwarfing studies.   
 
Unique Plant Responses:
 We noticed a peculiar curling of pepper leaves (i.e., they seemed to turn upside down) in some studies.  We found 
some reports of this occurring when seedlings are moved from higher to lower humidity.
Accomplishments: 
 
 We successfully grew ‘Outredgeous’ red romaine lettuce in the Veggie flight hardware as part of the payload 
verification test for the flight of this hardware.  The hardware validation test of Veggie on the international space 
station is scheduled to commence in April.   
 
 Levels of CO2 in space shuttle cabin typically range between 4000-6000 mol mol-1 and can exceed 10,000 mol mol 
-1 with large crews. In order to use plants for life support (i.e., O2 and food production, CO2 removal, water 
purification) it is imperative that we understand how plants respond to super-elevated CO2 (SE-CO2) (>5000 mol 
mol -1). Controlled environment studies at KSC have shown that prolonged exposure to SE-CO2 resulted in increased 
stomatal conductance and decreased water use efficiency by plants.  
 
To understand this phenomenon, we continued to grow plants in controlled environment chambers and expose them to 
varying levels of CO2. Using molecular genetics and Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) tools we are trying to 
dissect the mechanism behind plant responses to SE-CO2.  At the same time we are also using reverse genetics tools, 
such as T-DNA insertional mutants, to answer specific questions related to starch metabolism, which could be a key 
aspect of plant’s response to SE-CO2.    
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20140008641 2019-08-29T13:59:32+00:00Z
U. Alaska Fairbanks                                                                                                       Apr. 2014
  
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 Growth Chambers are currently being used to characterize a range of plant dwarfing tools and procedures that could 
be applied to Advanced Life Support.  The ability to dwarf standard crops will help meet volume and mass limitations 
of spaceflight and planetary exploration.  The following tools and procedures are currently under consideration: 
o Mechanical stimulation (e.g., thigmomorphogenesis, seismomorphogenesis) 
o Atypical temperature profiles (e.g., dip/diff) 
o Root restriction 
o Pruning and training 
o Genetic manipulations (e.g., FT constructs) 
 Researchers from the USDA/ARS and NASA are collaborating to evaluate a rapid-cycle crop breeding system as a 
mechanism for using tree fruit crops for Advanced Life Support. In the past, tree fruits have not been a serious 
consideration due to long juvenile phases, dormancy requirements, large canopy architectures, and low harvest 
indices. Controlled environment chambers are being used to evaluate the performance the FT transformed plums 
(Prunus domestica) under spaceflight relevant conditions. 
 
 
 
A. Bell peppers subjected to mechanical stimulation:Left is the control, right was mechanically stimulated twice per day 
for 10 seconds.  B. FT transformed plums (Prunus domestica) demonstrating dwarf phenotypes compatible with the 
constraints of spaceflight. 
 
Impact Statements: 
  
Recent Publications/Presentations:  
Yang, Y., Massa, G.D., and Mitchell, C.A.  2014. Temperature DIP at the beginning of the photoperiod reduces plant 
height but not seed yield of maize grown in controlled environments.  Industrial Crops and Products 53:120 – 127. 
Massa, G.D., Newsham, G., Hummerick, M.E., Caro, J.L., Stutte, G.W., Morrow, R.C., and Wheeler, R.M.  2013.  
Preliminary species and media selection for the Veggie space hardware.  Gravitational & Space Research 1(1):95-106. 
Massa, G., M.S. Simpson, G. Newsham, G.W. Stutte, R. Wheeler.  2013. Plant atrium system for food production in 
NASA’s Deep Space Habitat tests. Amer. Inst. Aeronautics and Astronautics AIAA 2013-3359. 
A B 
Arabidopsis thaliana 
growing in a controlled 
environment chamber in 
SLSL 
U. Alaska Fairbanks                                                                                                       Apr. 2014
  
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Nakamura, T., O. Monje, and B. Bugbee. 2013. Solar food production and life support in space exploration. Space 2013, 
Amer. Inst. Aeronautics Astronautics AIAA 2013-5399. 
Wheeler, R.M. 2014. Journal papers from Kennedy Space Center advanced life support and plant space biology. NASA 
Technical Memorandum 2014-217385. 
Stutte, G.W. and R.M. Roberts.  2013.  Microgravity effects on the early events of biological nitrogen fixation in 
Medicago truncatula: Results from the SyNRGE experiment.  Life is Space for Life on Earth,  ESA SP-706.  5 pg. 
 
Scientific Outreach: 
Committees / Panels: Sabbatical Leave 
ASHS CE Working Group (Stutte, Wheeler, Massa)         Gary Stutte, Marie Curie Fellowship from EU  
       (working at Limerick Institute of Technology, IE) 
Com. on Space Research (COSPAR) F4 (Wheeler)  
ACMAP Board of Directors (Stutte) 
ASGSR Governing Board (Massa) 
 
  
  


NCERA-101 Station Report from Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

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