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Bioregeneration at SAM

Dwarf peas growing in the Test Module at SAM, at Biosphere 2.

Luna Powell and Atila Meszaros at SAM, following the first, complete configuration of an experiment in bioregeneration.

This spring brought us to the close of four years of design, development, and construction of a unique, world-class, hermetically sealed research facility for bioregeneration (air revitalization with plants) for long-duration human space exploration.

SAM is now actively hosting what will be the first of many years of experiments in which we grow a specific species of food cultivar to determine it’s growth rate and carbon sequestration against three Vapor Pressure Deficit values.

My graduate student Atila Meszaros and SAM Site Manager Luna Powell managed a perfectly executed test run of dwarf wheat, peas, and quinoa. The peas are a unique variety developed by Dr. Bruce Bugbee and his team at Utah State University. Smaller than standard, they produce a remarkably high seed yield–perfect for the Moon or Mars.

Furthermore, we are working with Dr. Lucie Poulet and her graduate student to determine key characteristics of the peas, including the density and dimensions of the leaves. All of this work is inspired by the legacy of NASA veteran Raymond Wheeler who was instrumental in motivating my dive into the world of bioregeneration in 2017 with my very first concept for SIMOC.

June through mid August saw completion of two full, six week runs of peas (2 weeks incubation at B2; 4 weeks in SAM) only to be met with the reality of one too many system failures and mistakes, forcing a total restart this past Thursday. That is the rigor of science–if the experiment is not done right, you do it again … and again. I am proud of Atila and Luna for not hesitating to set aside more than three months of hard, daily work in the name of solid science.

A dwarf variety of pea at SAM, Biosphere 2.

Our current experimental configuration is built around a nearly fully automated, computer controlled system that Atila, Luna, and Tanner Conrad, Research Technologist (under Dr. Murat Kacira) at UA CEAC assembled and programmed. It maintains a constant 800 ppm of CO2 such that by monitoring the amount of CO2 injected (from a cryogenic tank via gas manifold) we know the maturity of the peas and can plot, with a high degree of accuracy, the growth function and as such, ability for any food cultivar to revitalize cabin air.

The culmination of this series of experiments comes in October in conjunction with the World’s Biggest Analog where veteran SAM team member Matthias Beach will be sealed inside for two weeks. During the first week his CO2 will be sequestered by the peas (at least, that’s the hypothesis). On the morning of the 8th day he will harvest the peas, secure them in air-tight bags, and then complete the mission with no CO2 removal to demonstrate the amount of CO2 that was being sequestered by the plants.

By |2025-08-24T00:00:39+00:00August 23rd, 2025|Categories: Research & Development|0 Comments

SAM team member Matthias Beach reflects on Flashline

Matthias Beach at the Mars Society's Flashline arctic research station, Devon Island, Canada

Crew: Matthias Beach, Jim Colletto, Andy Greco, Aubry Poilane, Ciaran Trevino, Terry Trevino, and Rhett Woods.

Devon Island is a place that has inspired hundreds to visit and study its unique environment, resembling something out of a sci-fi movie and, more importantly, Mars. On this island sits the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station, perched on the rim of Haughton Crater, an ancient impact site from some 30+ million years ago.

I have recently returned from there, having been chosen as part of The Mars Society’s Advance 1 (‘A-Team’). Our mission: to get to the facility, secure the perimeter, open it up, do any maintenance and upgrades we could accomplish in seven days (which got condensed to five due to weather), prepare it for the following two teams (Crews 17 and 18), and exit stage-left upon Crew 17’s arrival. We were positioned to set them up for the best possible scenario: maximizing [their] research. This approach seemed to work really well, despite the hiccups in getting to the island from Iqaluit.

We were able to get a record amount of work done, including [installation of] a new ventilation system, hot-water heater, baseboard heaters, trash bagged and hauled out, and de-winterizing ATVs. As XO and electrician, I was tasked upon arrival to establish power to the facility, catapulting me into becoming very intimate with [the] generators and power cabling system very quickly! Both generators (‘Gen-A’ and ‘Yellow Submarine’) fired up, thankfully, eager to work again after their long slumber. The rush of excitement radiated through my veins, knowing full well that we were critically reliant on this working!

Three of us ventured down to collect water from a crystal-blue stream of ice melt about half a click from the Hab, filling our jugs before heading back. While the others worked on installing a new header tank and water heater, I got familiar with the place by locating tools, going through bins and cabinets, and mapping out cable runs for the three baseboard heaters I was tasked to install. After a couple of days and a few helping hands, all heaters were wired and mounted on the walls with thermostats to each heater. I was also privileged to assist fellow ham operator Jim Coletto in setting up the ham radio station, requiring me to climb the tower and string antenna cable from the top of the Hab down to another tower a few dozen feet away. Amazingly, he was able to reach over 320 contacts in at least a half dozen countries—truly astounding!

On the final day, I stood at the edge of the crater minutes before our ride came, marveling at its vastness and how sad I was to leave. I was just getting used to this fast-paced environment, my amazing crewmates and the 24 hour sun. None of us ventured into the crater on this trip, but next year I’ll be sure to make that happen. I believe that in order to thrive off-world we will need more of these types of remote stations to research and study ways of doing so, for the sake of expanding humanity into the cosmos.

Now back to SAM!

By |2025-08-25T23:13:08+00:00August 15th, 2025|Categories: Research Teams|0 Comments

A summer of adventure

This summer was one of adventure for the entire SAM crew.

Kai and Trent enjoyed a trip down the Grand Canyon mid-May with directors and volunteers for the National Space Society, the final voyage of this seasonal journey in memory of the incredible (and greatly missed) Anita Gale who departed planet Earth in May 2024.

Kai and Colleen attended the National Geographic Society’s Explorers Fest and then ventured on to Mongolia for six weeks, teaching English and exploring the foot of the country’s largest glacier, and kayaking wild rivers.

Kai Nevers and his partner Kate spent a month traveling around Greece and Italy … dnding the trip with a 1 week hut-to-hut hike in the Dolomites.

Trent was wreck diving with the Explorers Club in the Great Salt Lakes.

Luna enjoyed time with family in rural Maine and sought refuge from the summer heat in Northern Arizona.

Griffin took his first trip overseas and presented two papers for SAM at ICES 2025, Prague.

Atila explored the beaches and jungle of his home country Peru.

Bindhu attended the Humans to the Moon and Mars summit in Washington D.C. followed by the Aerospace Medical Association conference in Atlanta, Georgia, related to the SAM MedBay project. She visited a colleague from the Analog Astronaut Conference in England, where she rode her first wave on a surf board, visited the Eden Project, and prehistoric Stonehenge.

Nathan explored lava tubes in Hawaii.

Shantano got his first, single author paper accepted to the CAIP conference, presented at the Sagan Summer Workshop for a hands-on project on occurence rate of exoplanets, and captured a thunderstorm and Saturn’s moon Titan on his phone.

And Matthias ventured to Devon Island with the Mars Society as XO for the Advance Team to prepare the Flashline station for Missions 17 and 18.

And somehow, despite the incredible travel, we got a lot done at SAM!

By |2025-08-27T19:48:18+00:00August 1st, 2025|Categories: Research & Development|0 Comments

Analog Astronaut Conference 2025 concludes

Analog Astronaut Conference 2025, Mars yard workshop with Dr. Christopher Hamilton, UA planetary geologist

The Analog Astronaut Conference has enjoyed its fourth year at Biosphere 2. This assembly of artists, writers, innovators, engineers, teachers, researchers, do-it-yourselfers, medical professionals, and yes, people who have made it to the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere and into orbit came together once again to share food, stories, science, and the warmth of direct conversations.

At a time when it seems the world is pushing everyone apart, it is comforting to be in the presence of people from so many countries—Armenia, Germany, Poland, England, Columbia, Argentina, Canada, Mexico, Kenya, the United States and more—to receive the music of accents of a half dozen languages during breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The subject matter of the talks ranged from diversity and inclusion in future human space travel to the science of CO2 scrubbers, from home-grown greenhouse structures built from repurposed water tanks to emotional intelligence as a tool for human interaction in the confines of an isolated habitat.

The SAM staff hosted three workshops:

  • Basics of Wound Care and Suturing by David Wexler, MD and Dr Bindhu Oommen, MD
  • Bioregenerative Life Support with Hydroponics by Atila Meszaros and Luna Powell
  • A Mars Geology Tour by Dr. Christopher Hamilton and Tasha Coelho

The Wound Care workshop was hosted in the SAM Operations Center. The Hydroponics workshop was hosted in the SAM Test Module. And the Mars Geology workshop was hosted in the SAM Mars yard.

In addition, five SAM team members gave expert talks on a wide variety of subject matter:

  • Kai Staats opened the conference with review of the past year at SAM and a look to the future as the SAM team transitions from construction into research for bioregeneration, air revitalization, and advanced medical care for long-duration missions far from Earth.
  • Arizona State School of Earth and Space Exploration Planetary Geology undergraduate and SAM team member Tasha Coelho gave a talk about the current science investigations on Mars.
  • Purdue graduate and new Mechanical Engineer at SAM Griffin Hentzen gave a talk about the new Experimental Air Revitalization Laboratory (EARL) room and carbon dioxide removal system being built at SAM.
  • Bryan Versteeg, world-renowned space architect and member of the SAM team since 2019 gave a talk about his life’s work in helping envision the future of our species as we learn to live in free space and on the surface of the Moon and Mars.
  • Thomas Hoffman of the new Surgical Bay Research Group at SAM (with David Wexler and Bindhu Oommen) gave a talk about the history and current state of aerospace medicine for spaceflight.
By |2025-05-06T06:11:59+00:00May 5th, 2025|Categories: In the news|0 Comments

New SAM Team page

SAM Team montage

Since January 2021 the SAM team has grown from Kai Staats and Trent Tresch and a host of volunteers to an international cadre of staff members who contribute a wealth of knowledge, experience, skills, and motivation to bring to life an advanced research center for human space exploration.

Visit the all-new SAM Team page

By |2025-05-05T18:13:20+00:00April 25th, 2025|Categories: Research & Development|0 Comments

Newly bred compact tomato offers potential for vertical farming

Kai Staats and Changbin Chen in the Test Module of SAM at Biosphere 2

In an era defined by climate volatility and resource scarcity, researchers are developing crops that can survive — and thrive — under pressure.

One such innovation is the newly released tomato variety “Desert Dew” bred by Changbin Chen, associate professor in Arizona State University’s School of Life Sciences. More than just a tomato, Desert Dew represents a leap forward in sustainable agriculture, optimized for rapid growth, nutrient density and adaptability to extreme environments.

Read the full article …

By |2025-04-15T00:13:49+00:00April 14th, 2025|Categories: In the news|0 Comments

USSF Guardian advances space agriculture research in NASA study

William Wallace at SAM, Biosphere 2

March 3, 2025
by Staff Sgt. Jaime Sanchez
Space Base Delta 1

SCHRIEVER SPACE FORCE BASE, Colo. — In an ongoing NASA study set in the backdrop of Arizona, U.S. Space Force Spc. 4 William Wallace, 4th Space Operations Squadron payload engineer, was invited to further continue the science community’s understanding of extraterrestrial agriculture.

Read the full article …

By |2025-03-04T14:56:41+00:00March 4th, 2025|Categories: In the news|0 Comments

APUS ARG-1S Red Crew Egress

APUS ARG-1S Red Crew exists SAM after five days sealed inside this pressurized facility.

APUS ARG-1S Red Crew Keston Denhalter, Aedanaya Diamond, Gilbert Wilkerson, and Commander Laura Rieske egressed from the SAM research vessel today, February 18, at 10:03 am. They were met in the SAM Mars yard by the members of the Blue Crew and Mission Control.

In the debrief that followed at the SAM Operations Center, the mission was described as a complete success with all science objectives met, data collected on several vital systems (CO2, RH, potable water, hydroponics), and a successful Mode 3 run in which the vessel was fully sealed for four hours.

Photos and narrative coming soon!

By |2025-02-18T21:04:14+00:00February 18th, 2025|Categories: Research Teams|0 Comments

Storytelling with data: an analysis of RH at Mission Control

An analysis of RH from Mission Control at SAM, Biosphere 2

SAM offers a unique, highly engaging experience for visiting crews as it likely the first time they have monitored carbon dioxide (CO2), relative humidity (RH), temperature (temp), VOCs, and pressure in a hermetically sealed vessel for the duration of an analog mission.

While prior discussions of air quality in SAM usually focus on CO2, the APUS ARG-1S crew was asked to also keep a close watch on relative humidity as they are the second crew to condense the moisture contained in the vessel’s body of air, filter it, and then add it back into their potable water supply.

There are a total of seven devices able to condense water vapor into liquid water within SAM: 2 mini-split heat pumps and 2 dehumidifiers in the Test Module; 1 mini-split and 1 dehumidifier in the Engineering Bay, and 1 mini-split in the Crew Quarters. As the TM currently contains two racks active in hydroponics to provide fresh vegetables for the crew, the mini-splits must remain set to Heat, even in this too-warm winter in order to maintain an approximation of the ideal growing temperatures. In heating mode, any condensation occurs on the condenser, outside of SAM.

The dehumidifiers can be set to presets of Continuous, 55%, or 45% with manual setting of a much wider range. They activate when they sense the relative humidity to be at or above the given threshold. The mini-splits condense water at the air handler inside the habitat, or can be set to Dehumidify in which they neither heat nor cool the habitat, but work instead to capture water from the air and drain it into a potable bucket, one below each wall-mounted unit.

As such, the crew may elect to set the mini-splits to Heat, Cool, or Dehumidify as they see fit in the Engineering Bay and Crew Quarters, manually changing the settings throughout the day and night. The crew has access to a local, real-time display of the SIMOC Live data via the dedicated terminal in the EB, or on any of their laptops.

At the SAM Operations Center and Mission Control, which for this mission was occupied by two dedicated officers and the rotating crew before and after the crew switch on day 5 (through the airlock), the same data is also available, delayed by 20 minutes to simulate the light-travel time from Mars to Earth.

One of the functions of Mission Control is to monitor the air quality, at all times, and to guide the crew as to how to manage the components. So, when a regular oscillation of humidity followed a certain spike, as registered in both the EB and CQ, it invoked a discussion at Mission Control and dialog (delayed by 40 minutes round-trip) with the crew.

Is this a false reading? And if not,
What is causing the spike in humidity?
What is bringing it back down again?

Is this a false reading? Given the data visualization on the SIMOC Live dashboard, there was some concern for the spikes and valleys. However, as RH and temperature are included with both the SDC CO2 and BME pressure sensors, there are two RH and temp sensors on-board each SIMOC Live board, and one board in each of the four modules. This is important when analyzing any of the data streams, for it helps to immediately determine if a short-term fluctuation is in fact a representation of the real world, or an anomaly in that particular sensor and data stream. It was confirmed that this is a real reading as a total of four sensors (2 in EB, 2 in CQ) were matched in the pattern.

What is causing the spike in humidity? The first guess was boiling water for coffee or tea, cooking, or exercise. But intuitively the spike was too large, registering in both the EB and CQ. In fact, it appeared that the humidity was propagating upstream, meaning against the flow of air from the Air Intake Room (SAM AIR) to the TM, EB, and CQ. As such, this had to be a good bit of moisture released all at once.

If not cooking or human respiration, then what? We then asked the crew if they had switched the mini-split units from Dehumidify to Heat, as this would disable the function of condensing moisture and quite possibly dump moisture into the air. The theory (proposed by Kai) was that the heat exchangers have a large copper surface area by which a relatively large volume of air can interact, thereby heating, cooling, and/or removing moisture. If that surface area is wet with condensate, and the mode is switched to Heat, the coils will rapidly move from cold to hot and immediately eject the water molecules back into the air as soon as the fans spin up.

We inquired if in fact the crew has made this switch, and yes, they confirmed this to be true.

What is bringing it back down again? The oscillation then is the dehumidifier in the same module working to reduce the humidity, turning off when it reaches its desired low threshold, then kicking in again as the humidity rises.

Case solved!

By |2025-02-20T21:40:45+00:00February 16th, 2025|Categories: Research Teams|0 Comments
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