EXPERIMENT #1
Seeds prepping – May 28th
Seeds sowing – May 29th
Seedlings Transplant – June 12th
CO2 injection and Experiment Start – June 13th
Plants harvest and kill – July 11th
TM cleaning and prep – July 11th to July 16th
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:
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:
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 …
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.
The new IT room at SAM is nearly complete. Matthias and Nathan are applying the final coats of paint. We are keeping with the same space-themed colors in the Behr paint product line with “Lunar Surface” and “Mission Control” as applied in the Operations Center, up the hill.
What’s more, we painted the entire south wall of the IT room with chalkboard paint in order that we can hold team meetings in the Mars yard workshop and take notes that everyone can see, leave messages for each other, or simply express a little artistic fun, from time to time.
by Griffin Hentzen, ME
As we move into the test phase, we are running a series of tests to ensure that certain custom components will perform as expected. One component of significance is the metal chambers that will hold the desiccant and sorbents. In order to remove a given amount of CO2, the system needs to move a specific volume of air in a given period of time.
The silica and zeolite beads in the beds cause a significant amount of resistance to that airflow, so it is essential we can calculate the blower capacity for the given, required flowrate. For this immediate test I am repurposing metal chambers and valves used in a previous senior design project (2022), with a new, small blower.
We will measure the pressure drop (the amount of pressure needed to push air through at a given rate) across the metal chamber as well as the flowrate of air. We will control the flowrate by incrementally opening and closing a bleed valve that enables a limited portion of the air to bypass the chamber entirely.
Once we have the correlation between the flowrate and the pressure drop, we will be able to predict the pressure drop in chambers of different sizes and different flowrates. This will allow us to determine the requirements for the final blower we select.
Introduction | Design | Experiment | Components | Assemble | Fabrication | First Run
We fully admit to being far behind on blog entries.
Construction of new facilities continues. Research is going very well. But damn it, the Earth just rotates too fast, and there are not enough hours in the day to get it all done.
Stay tuned!
“We have designed or selected most of the essential components at a preliminary level, and are looking forward to seeing how the project progresses. The metal chambers and all flanges are designed by our team and will be fabricated by the University of Arizona’s Welding and Fabrication Facility. Major components such as the valves, blower, heat exchanger and vacuum pump will be commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components that meet the required specifications.” —Griffin Hentzen, ME
The remaining contents of this post are now contained in the scrubber Overview page.
This post is being re-written to discuss the design parameters that guided Griffin’s effort, including materials, bed temperatures, volume of desiccant (silica) and sorbent (zeolite), rate of gas exchange, sensors and control systems, both manual and automated.
Stay tuned!
Introduction | Design | Experiment | Components | Assemble | Fabrication | First Run
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.
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!