DLR to design extra-terrestrial greenhouse module

While extra-terrestrial greenhouses are not a new idea, DLR’s ‘bio-regenerative life-support system’ will focus on a high degree of automation, with a prototype hopefully ready for deployment in Antarctica by 2014.

One of the key requirements of the design will be for it to fit within the allowable volume of the Ariane 5 launcher — the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) ‘workhorse’ rocket.

‘We design for space, but we’ll use it most likely on Earth,’ said Dr Daniel Schubert of the Institute of Space Systems, the DLR’s think tank for innovative space missions. ‘We also want to solve urgent terrestrial challenges such as vertical farming and desert applications,’ he added.

As well as a continuous food supply for the crew, the team will work on other functions such as grey water purification, oxygen production, various waste-management tasks and the production of bioplastics, cloths and medicine.

For the overall module architecture, the team is currently evaluating designs ranging from rigid cylinders to inflatable or semi-rigid structures — considering the optimum trade-off between complexity and growing space.