Greenhab Report – February 11th

Crew 205 Green Hab Report – 11-FEB-2019

GreenHab Officer: Nathan Hadland

Environmental control: Heating and Cooling w/ ambient air (5 hrs)

Shade Cloth (40%)

Average temperatures:

Low: 17.1°C

High: 26.4°C

Hours of supplemental light: 5 Hours

Daily water usage for crops: 11.5 gallons

Water in Blue Tank: ~ 288.5 gallons

Time(s) of watering for crops:

TIME NOTED TEMPERATURE(° C ) / HUMIDITY(%)
[AT TIME OF WATERING]

1) 09.00 AM 19.9° C / 33 %
2) 12.00 PM 25.2° C / 62 %
3) 15:30 PM 20.5° C / 22 %
4) 18:15 PM 19.1° C / 48 %

Changes to crops: None

Narrative: I scrapped 2 of the cucumber experiments and set the plant material aside for later analysis. We prepared some wet mount slides and analyzed the samples under the microscope in the science dome and found nothing unusual with regards cell structure. However, the discoloration and dry material leads us to believe that they died of nitrogen deficiency and improper watering. We will continue analysis at a later date. I am attempting to salvage three of the cucumbers that appear to still be living. In addition, I prepped the tomato pots so they are ready for the seed arrival.

In the large planter, we dug up all of the carrots that were growing wrong areas and replanted them in one section (as I mentioned in my last report, they were clearly taking over the planter and causing nitrogen deficiency on the other crops). In the rearranging process, we freed up a lot of room for the tomatoes in the planter and we intend on using some of the seeds we received to add to the number of tomato plants in the planter.

I also harvested many of the larger carrot crops and we separated the carrots from the carrot greens. We dried out the greens using the ovens for our In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) study on cellulosic ethanol production (see the GreenHab section in the mission summary report). The harvest is being used for roasted carrots for dinner!

I started autoclaving pipet tips and microcentrifuge tubes, however, we had issues with the autoclave (refer to tonight’s operations report). Once the autoclave cools, later tonight we will start the procedure for germinating the Arabidopsis thaliana seeds and plating on the germination plates. We will put those plates in the GreenHab and expect germination within the next few days. Today, we started sampling regolith on EVA for later physical property characterization. Once the A. thaliana germinates, we will transfer the seedlings to the regolith we identify as the best substrates.

Harvest: Carrots: 314 g total weight

124 wet weight of carrot greens

190 g of carrots

23 g dry weight of inedible cellulosic material

Support/supplies needed: None.

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