Plant Processing Area
Inside a laboratory in the Space Systems Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a plant biologist harvests Outredgeous romaine lettuce growing in the Advanced Plant Habitat ground unit as the ground control portion of the Plant Habitat-07 (PH-07) experiment on Thursday, April 24, 2025. PH-07 was sent to the International Space Station on NASA’s SpaceX 31st commercial resupply services mission to study how optimal and suboptimal moisture conditions impact plant growth, nutrient content, and the plant microbiome.
The Plant Processing Area (PPA) consists of seven rooms and supports plant biology and space crop research, development, testing, and evaluation. Activities include plant growth experiments; seed preparation; plant growth media preparation; plant harvesting; sample preparation for analyses; and development and testing of plant growth systems (e.g., aeroponics, hydroponics, water/nutrient delivery), plant research hardware (e.g., growth containers, environmental chambers, lighting systems, and plant harvesting devices), plant growth media, and nutrient solutions. The PPA has seven walk-in Percival Scientific Controlled Environment Chambers (CECs), four reach-in Percival Scientific CECs, and one reach-in Conviron CEC. These chambers are used to grow plants under controlled conditions (e.g., temperature, humidity, lighting, and CO2 concentration) and can be modified to support a wide range of user-defined environmental set-points needed for plant biology research, space crop research, Controlled Environment Agriculture, pre-flight payload testing, and studying plant responses to spaceflight environments. These specialized chambers allow for the cultivation of plants in simulated space conditions, providing insights into plant biology and the development of space crop and life support systems for long-duration space missions. The PPA has several KSC-developed Environmental Test Chambers (ETCs) that are used as incubators for growing plants. ETCs can be used within the walk-in CECs or outside the CECs. The PPA has a variety of horticultural lighting systems used in plant growth experiments inside the CECs or outside the CECs. The PPA has a Maker Space with several 3D printers used to develop a variety of experiment unique equipment (EUE) such as plant growth containers and harvesting devices.
- Seven Walk-in Controlled Environment Chambers (CECs)
- Five reach-in CECs
- Environmental Test Chamber (ETCs) incubators
- Li-COR quantum sensors
- Li-COR photosynthesis system
- Li-COR gas exchange system
- Temperature/humidity sensors
- pH meters
- Chlorophyll meters
- Anthocyanin meters
- Li-COR area meters
- Leaf porometers
- Freeze dryer
- Dehydrator
- Cryogrinder
- Laminar flow hoods
- Freezers
- Refrigerators
- 3D printers
- Oven
- Plant tissue grinder
- Balances
- Vortex mixers
- Stir plates
- Sieve shaker
- Sentry Air Systems fume extractor
- Horticultural lighting systems (Bios Lighting model IcarusVi 321-TUXJ-0003, Aerogarden models Farm24 and Farm24 Plus, Heliospectra model RX-30, AIBC International model Ex70DIM, Spider Farmer model SF1000, Orbitec model BPSe, OSRAM model Phytofy RL, and Artificial Sunlight Research Module).