|
|
|
|
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Wishing you good health, happiness, and success in the coming year and always!
|
|
From the team at LIQUIFER Systems Group
Waltraut Hoheneder, Barbara Imhof, Susmita Mohanty, René Waclavicek, Molly Hogle, Bob Davenport, Chris Gilbert and Stephen Ransom
|
|
|
NEWSLETTER
WINTER 2018/19
|
|
EDEN ISS analogue mission in Antarctica comes to a close
MISSION COMPLETE
|
|
The 10-month growing campaign in Antarctica, testing integrated closed-loop greenhouse technologies, wrapped up in December 2018. The edible biomass that was produced exceeded expectations, and provided the over-wintering crew of the adjunct Neumayer III, German Antarctic research station of the Alfred-Wegener-Institute, with fresh supplemental food. In addition, significant knowledge has been gained on the robustness of the designed system and vulnerabilities that exist within the system design, largely attributed to the extreme environment in Antarctica characterised by freezing temperatures (a threat to the operation of system parts) and isolation (prohibitive to acquiring replacement parts for broken or damaged equipment).
The Mobile Test Facility will be disassembled and shipped back to the DLR campus in Bremen Germany. Samples of the vegetables cultivated within the greenhouse will be distributed to the relevant consortium members for further analysis on the nutritional content of the grown samples and for the detection of microbial activity.
Image credit: DLR, 2018
|
|
Consortium members:
Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft - Und Raumfahrt Ev (DLR), Germany
LIQUIFER Systems Group (LSG), Austria
Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche (CNR), Italy
University Of Guelph, Canada
Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz- Zentrum Fuer Polar- Und Meeresforschung (AWI), Germany
Enginsoft Spa (ES), Italy
Airbus Defense and Space, Germany
Thales Alenia Space Italia Spa, Italy
Aero Sekur S.p.A., Italy
Stichting Dienst Landbouwkundig Onderzoek (DLO), the Netherlands
Heliospectra AB, Sweden
Limerick Institute Of Technology (LIT), Ireland
Telespazio SPA, Italy
University of Florida, USA
|
|
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 636501
http://eden-iss.net
|
|
|
Successful conclusion to ESA-funded project URBAN
|
|
URBAN – Conceiving a Lunar Base using 3D-printing Technologies, evaluated the feasibility and implementation in using Additive Manufacturing (AM) processes in the construction and maintenance of a lunar base. Over 50 existing AM processes were evaluated for their potential relevance to lunar environment constraints and advantages, including lack of atmosphere, reduced gravity, lunar dust, moonquakes, micrometeorites, and extreme temperature. The Technology-Adoption-Lifecycle process further evaluated each of the different processes based on:
- the logistics of launching all required equipment
- the resource budget required for developing the technology to a TRL9 (flight-ready)
- their potential for autonomous assembly and operation once on the moon
- the characterization of materials that can be printed (including materials in-situ to the lunar environment) and the downgrading cycle of each material
- the amount and type of waste that is produced during the fabrication process
|
|
|
At the end of the study, a technological roadmap was developed for each of the four AM technologies determined to be the most promising for application in a lunar mission. The technological building blocks that are required for advancing a technology for flight-readiness, and the correlated challenges and effort are defined for:
- Electronic Beam Additive Manufacturing (EBAM)
- Fiberoptic Solar Concentrator / Solar Sintering
- Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF)
- Lithography-based Ceramic Manufacturing (LCM)
|
|
|
Antarctic mini-series on RADIO ORANGE Space Specials
|
|
Interviews conducted by Barbara Imhof, during the Antarctic Biennale (17-19 March 2017) available online via Radio Orange, Space Specials broadcast series. In 2018, Barbara Imhof completed the Antarctic series, which began in 2017.
All interviews are available online at the Cultural Broadcasting Archive > https://cba.fro.at/series/space-specials. Space Specials are non-commercial, not-for-profit broadcasts hosted by Radio Orange o94.at.
|
|
A lecture for penguins
(https://cba.fro.at/391112)
Original broadcast 18.12.2018 (English, Russian)
Interview with Alexander Sekatsky, associate professor at the Saint Petersburg University at the faculty of philosophy and political sciences. He is the Chair of social philosophy and the philosophy of history.
photo: Barbara Imhof
|
|
On a drifting ice floe at the North Pole
(https://cba.fro.at/374660)
21.08.2018 (Original broadcast 15.05.2018) (English)
Interview with oceanographer Sergey Pisarev of the renown Russian Shirshov Institute of Oceanology. Sergey Pisarev has been researching for over 10 years the water currents, temperature, and ice quality of a drifting ice plate close to the North Pole.
image courtesy Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences
|
|
|
Antarctica – from the edge of biological possibilities
(https://cba.fro.at/351687)
Original broadcast 17.10.2017 (English)
An interview with photographer Jean de Pomereu on Antarctic as a place for aesthetic research.
Photo: Jean de Pomereu
|
|
Greenhouses on the moon and in Antarctica
(https://cba.fro.at/376828)
Original broadcast 10.06.2018 (English)
Interview with Prof. Gene Giacomelli from the University of Arizona. Gene Giacomelli developed a greenhouse for the moon, implemented a growth chamber at the South Pole Station in Antarctica, and is a specialist in horticulture.
Image courtesy of the National Science Foundation
|
|
|
upcoming 2019
In 2019, Imhof shifts her focus to the South Pacific. Based on interviews conducted aboard the Dardanella, during the TBA Academy expedition led by the Danish artist group Superflex, (18.8.- 6.9.2018).
Imhof reveals through another mini-series, the secrets of ocean ecologies in the era of climate change, and how interdisciplinary research and artistic production is used to address pressing issues concerning the ocean world.
photo Barbara Imhof
|
|
|
European Space Agency ESA space in images
|
|
|
In November, two projects that LIQUIFER Systems Group helps to develop, were featured in ESA’s online ‘space in images.’
|
|
|
Space in images - FUTURE MOON BASE (21/11/2018)
RegoLight, a Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation project, explored different solar-sintering methods for constructing habitats on the moon using in-situ resources, the lunar dust and solar light.
Visualisation: Liquifer Systems Group, 2018
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
