ABSTRACT
Stability of Chinese cabbage crop colonization by methanolic bacteria Methylovorus mays, Methylomonas methanica and Methylosinus trichosporium inoculated using a space-applicable method was evaluated. Besides, trends of methane and methanol concentrations in the pressurized chamber with inoculated and uninoculated crops were calculated. Methylovorus mays and Methylosinus trichosporium were shown to establish more stable colonization as compared to Methylomonas methanica. Also, stable association of methanolic bacteria with plants reduced airborne methanol 75% faster owing to its uptake by bacteria. Therefore, inoculation of these microorganisms can be viewed as a promising method of controlling volatile pollutants in space vehicle atmosphere. Methane drop after 6-hour exposure to inoculated control and test crops was not significant.
Subject(s)
Air Pollutants, Occupational/analysis , Air/analysis , Brassica/microbiology , Methane/analysis , Methanol/analysis , Methylomonas/metabolism , Methylophilaceae/metabolism , Methylosinus/metabolism , Spacecraft , Symbiosis , Air Pollutants, Occupational/metabolism , Brassica/physiology , Methane/metabolism , Methanol/metabolismABSTRACT
Installation of a greens production system on the International space station will mean a leap toward biological regeneration of food in long-duration space mission. Today, priority is given to green cultures as supplements of space rations and a psychological support to crews in exploration missions to Mars, and also as least resource-intensive. Cylindrical salad greenhouse "Phytoconveyor" designed at the Institute for Biomedical Problems is highly productive, energy-efficient, and requires minimum of crew time for. Dimensions of the greenhouse are 540 x 590 x 400 mm, power demand is 0.25 kW, and the Plant chamber volume is about 0.09 m3. 'Phytoconveyor" has a planting unit with six cylindrical root modules. The total illuminated crop area is about 0.4 m2. The lighting unit consists of red (660 nm) and blue (470 nm) light-emitting diodes on the inner surface of a spiral cylinder coaxial with the roots module unit that generate the photon flux density 350 micromol x M(-2) x s(-1) at a distance of 4 cm. Each root module has a porous tube wrapped up in a fiber substrate with ion-exchange resins and is covered with a lightproof plastic with seed slits. The "Phytoconveyor" design includes a programmable reverse watering system. Given the 24-hr light period, the laboratory model of "Phytoconveyor" can produce up to 300 gram of fresh greens every 4-5 days. The greenhouse was designed with due account of resource limitations on the ISS Russian orbital segment.
