Protocol | FC High School

2019-2020 Growing Beyond Earth Research Protocol

Future Farmers of America

Growing Beyond Earth (GBE) is an authentic research project in partnership with NASA. The goal of the project is to assist NASA scientists in testing edible plant variety options for growth on the International Space Station's Veggie and the Advanced Plant Habitat system by providing middle and high school students with the opportunity to actively contribute to this authentic research.

In May of 2015, Fairchild began a partnership with Kennedy Space Center (KCS) to help further NASA’s plant-based research by calling upon the Garden's large network of highly-engaged, STEM-minded, students and teachers. Most were already participating in ongoing citizen science projects through the award-winning Fairchild Challenge program. Together with NASA scientists, we engineered and installed plant growth chambers analogous to the Vegetable Production System (Veggie) in classrooms throughout South Florida — leveraging an army of nearly 50,000 middle and high school students and teachers in the nation’s fourth-largest school district. Growing Beyond Earth (GBE) was designed to expand crop options and increase plant diversity by testing multiple plants that meet NASA’s criteria for growth and edibility.

Over the past four years, students have been testing factors that may influence plant growth, flavor, and nutrition. NASA will use students’ data to determine which plants are selected for further testing and will be potentially grown in space. Through the NASA-partnered GBE project, students have tested over 130 varieties of edible plants for germination rates, growth habits, and edible biomass production. After confirming that our experimental growth chamber produced similar results to the International Space Station (ISS) Vegetable Production System (Veggie), students helped NASA choose the "cut and come again" procedure to use on the ISS as a method to continuously provide fresh produce. GBE is unique in its focus on real scientific research relevant to NASA mission planning, as fresh produce will be an important part of the astronaut diet on long-duration missions beyond Earth’s orbit.

The program consists of in-classroom botany experiments that help NASA grow plants aboard spacecraft. GBE is unique in its focus on real scientific research and its relevance to NASA mission planning. In the future, fresh vegetables may be an important part of the astronaut diet on long duration missions beyond Earth’s orbit.

Each classroom receives a Fairchild-designed growth chamber that is analogous to NASA’s Veggie plant growing system aboard the International Space Station. Fairchild and NASA scientists train teachers to experiment with growing food plants in the mini botany labs. As plants grow, students share observations and measurements online with the NASA scientists, who then use the data to develop protocols for the International Space Station and future spacecraft.

As you prepare to participate in GBE, it is important that you carefully review the following materials even if you have participated in the project in the past. Each year’s project is different. Since this research has real world implications and your data are being used by scientists at NASA, it is very important that you follow the instruction precisely.

If you have any questions regarding the protocol, data sheets or other aspects of the Growing Beyond Earth Project, please contact us. You can either:

Add you question directly on the Google Spreadsheet. Enter your questions in the cell titled Data Entry Questions and Feedback. We check this cell weekly and provide feedback there.
Via email at challengeresearch@fairchildgarden.org
On Twitter: @GrowBeyondEarth

OVERVIEW:

For the first trial, you will be conducting a 28-day variety test. Seeds have been randomly selected for your school and were chosen based on the following criteria set forth by the scientists at NASA Kennedy Space Center: (1) varieties produce large amounts of edible biomass; (2) grow using low amounts of resources; (3) contain high levels of certain vitamins not found in the processed astronaut diet; (4) are compact and robust, and (5) have a strong flavor.

Over the life of this program, we have tested more than 130 varieties of edible plants for long-distance space travel. Of those 10 have been ground tested at Kennedy and in June of 2018, two (extra dwarf pak choi and dragoon lettuce) were being tested aboard the International Space Station.

MATERIALS:

In order to maintain consistency of the experiment and level the playing field so all schools can participate in Growing Beyond Earth, Fairchild provides all materials needed to conduct your research. If you are missing any items, please contact challengeresearch@fairchildgarden.org

MINI BOTANY LAB SETUP
For consistency, it is important that your mini botany lab be constructed as follows:

a. Growth Chamber Assembly:
See Attachment: Growth Chamber Assembly Instructions.

b. Insert battery into the thermometer/hygrometer, set it to Celsius and velcro thermometer inside the growth chamber in the middle of the back panel.

c. Insert the black planting tray and place the spacer mesh gripper (perforated side up) as wicking material into the tray.

TIMER SETUP:

Set your timer for a 12 hour photoperiod. We suggest that you set your timer to turn on the light after you get to the classroom in the morning in case of malfunction. For more information, please follow the instructions provided with your timer or view the following video. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7dp8jzSvaE)
NOTE: The fan connected to the light will need to run 24 hours a day and needs its own outlet.
Check your timer frequently for the right setting.

LED LIGHT FIXTURE:

Your LED light fixture is a complex tool and needs to be used properly and handled with care. It was designed based on the “Veggie” light data published in 2016 by light engineers. The following table shows you the settings of “Veggie” and the respective numbers on the light controller. Please do not exceed 190 on your controller on blue and 170 on your controller in green to avoid damage.

a. Light Settings: The light settings will be modified after the first two weeks.
i. Weeks 1 and 2: adjust the controller to a “High” setting with green on (see image below):

ii. Weeks 3 and 4: adjust the controller to “Medium” setting with green on (see image below):

PLANTING YOUR TEST PLANTS:

Media Preparation:
1. Place three liters of clay (Greens Grade) in your mixing container.
2. Add the bag of pre-measured fertilizer to your mix and approximately 1.2 liters of water.
3. Start mixing thoroughly until moist and the mix are clumping. (If the mix is to dry it will run through the holes on the bottom of the pots).
Pot Preparation:
1. Number your pots from 1 to 6 using the plant labels or stickers and add the plant name, date and GBE # to the label.
2. Control Group: Pots # 1 - 2; Test Variety 1: Pots # 3 - 4; Test Variety 2: Pots # 5 - 6
3. Fill the pots with media up to the fill line and tap the pot onto a surface, do not press or compact the media. Make a little hole about 1/4 to ½ cm deep in the middle of the pot and place two seeds into the pot about one cm apart. Cover the seeds with media.

RANDOMIZE YOUR PLANTS:

Draw a grid using the numbers 1 - 3 in the horizontal and the letters A - B in the vertical. These will be your plant positions, which will be used to identify your plants when you transfer the information into the spreadsheet. Pot A1 is in the first row and first column of your tray.
Use www.random.org (screen shot below) to find the right tray position for your plant. At the top of the page click on “numbers”, and then click on “sequence generator“.
Make the largest value 6 and the number of columns 3. Click “Get Sequence” and a random order of plant positions will appear. Pots will be placed in the position to which they are assigned and they will remain in the position for the duration of that particular experiment. However the positions will have to be randomized for each new experiment. Below you see an example of a placement sheet, though you have to randomize your own.
Remember to keep all the information, including the plant positions, in a hard copy lab notebook to refer back to if needed.

Remember: Fill in your data weekly, don't wait until the end of the experiment.

Example of plant position placement sheet:

DATA COLLECTION:

Lab Notebook: For the duration of this project, all data and observations should be manually recorded within a lab notebook. You may choose to have individual students keeping their own notes, but you should have a single master notebook for the entire class.
Google Spreadsheets: You will enter data online through a Google spreadsheet, which Fairchild staff will create and share with you. It is helpful if you have a Google account and email address. The spreadsheet works like an Excel spreadsheet but it is not required that you save your data. Your changes will be saved automatically. Please make sure your internet connection is working or your data may be lost.
1. Each week has a “Notes” field where you should add plant observations (e.g. discolorations, growth habit, etc). There is also a “Data Collection, Entry Questions, and Feedback” field where you can ask questions or post feedback. The Fairchild Challenge team will read and respond directly on your spreadsheet.
  To share with you weekly updates on data collection from all the schools we will need your data entered weekly!
2. To ensure that you have fully completed the weekly data requirements, we have added a new feature to the datasheet: As you complete your weekly submission, you will get a confirmation that you have correctly submitted the required data. If you receive a ✓ in the cell next to the week number, your data entry is complete for that week. If you receive a ⌛, some data are missing.
3. If any of your plants do not germinate or die during the project, please indicate so by choosing “dead” from the drop-down menu titled “Plant Health”. By doing so, it will exclude those data cells from those required.

MAINTENANCE:

Watering Your Plants: After placing your pots on the planting tray, start with the initial watering. Pour 500 ml of water slowly onto the tray until the wicking material is wet. In the beginning, you will not need to water them often, but as the plants grow, more water will be needed. Raise the front panel and check daily by touching to see if the wicking material is still wet, lift a pot to see if the felt is still moist underneath and finally by feeling how heavy the pot is. (Careful: if the media is dry it will rinse through the holes on the bottom of the pot). Water sparsely as needed, and increase watering before the weekend. Note: The ambient temperature and humidity in your classroom influences the amount of water you have to give your plants. There is no “one fits all”.

Your plants should germinate within the first week. When both seedlings are visible remove the smaller/weaker one.
Measuring your plants: For this project, you will be measuring the size of your plant as a whole, NOT the size of the individual leaf. To do this, have the plant in the same position in front of you using the plant label/sticker as a marker and measure the plant’s height, width, and depth. When measuring do not manipulate your plant (i.e. pull the leaves up or out). However, you can tilt the entire plant upright for easy measuring. Make sure that your plants are well watered before measuring.

Measure your plant according to the pictures below:

FINAL HARVEST: Trail 1 - 28-day variety trial.

On the day of the final harvest, measure your plant as usual and add the weight of fresh mass and edible mass to the spreadsheet. Edible mass is all the plant mass you would be able to eat, sometimes including the stem but not dried or spoiled leaves. Fresh mass is the total mass of the plant.
Cut the plant from the pot. The plant must be dry (do not wash or wet the leaves before weighing). Do not include media or roots with your measurements; however add root growth observations to your spreadsheet.
For more information consult Module 6 – Harvesting.