State-of-the-art commercial plant biotechnology facility (CPBF)

The demand for highly flexible manipulation of plant growth generations and modification of specific plant processes in a controlled environment has led to the development of a Commercial Plant Biotechnology Facility (CPBF) for the International Space Station. The CPBF integrates proven ASTROCULTURE(TM) technologies, state-of-the-art control software, and fault tolerance and recovery technologies together to increase overall system efficiency, reliability, robustness, and flexibility. An open and modular design architecture minimizes the design effort of reconfiguration/reconstruction of the facility with different dimensions and capacities. An autonomous control system with fault tolerance and recovery capability, minimizes the on-orbit crew intervention which is particularly valuable for Space Shuttle and International Space Station missions. A flexible user interface is provided for operators to select, define, and modify the tasks to be conducted. The CPBF consists of five major subsystems: the lighting control system; the temperature control system; the humidity control system; the fluid nutrient delivery system; and the atmosphere control system. This paper describes the general configuration of the CPBF, its capabilities, and its control architecture. It also describes its configuration for integration into an International Space Station Express Rack.