Fairchild tropical botanic garden is proposing to develop the growing beyond earth (GBE) innovation studio, a stem education makerspace, to address nasas current space exploration objectives…

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Inc., a non-profit organization, was awarded a $749,220.00 grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to develop the Growing Beyond Earth (GBE) Innovation Studio. This is a STEM education makerspace project designed to address NASA's research interests in food production for space exploration. The project leverages Fairchild's existing partnership with NASA's Kennedy Space Center and builds upon a previous NASA-funded project. Key objectives include exploring efficient three-dimensional growing space, maintaining plants without human intervention, and designing robotic planting and harvesting systems. The grant will fund STEM education programs for students, inspire community participation, and develop a national network of makerspaces to contribute to NASA's plant science research. This award is not associated with any set-aside designation.

Fairchild tropical botanic garden is proposing to develop the growing beyond earth (GBE) innovation studio, a stem education makerspace, to address nasas current space exploration objectives concerning food production aboard spacecraft. The project is designed to leverage fairchild's formal partnership with NASA kennedy space center (KSC) and build upon the GBE challenge, NASA-funded project NNX16AM32G. The GBE innovation studio will focus on NASA technical content area space exploration and NRA theme/priority human exploration beyond low-earth orbit. As NASA looks toward a long-term human presence beyond earth orbit, there are specific science, technology, engineering, and math challenges related to food production in space. We propose to harness the creativity and talent within our local community and throughout a national network of makerspaces to address these challenges. In partnership with the miami-dade county public school district, moonlighter makerspace and the nation of makers, the GBE innovation studio will engage both regional and national audiences. Participants will include students, families and casual visitors, who will meet, socialize, and collaborate on plant science experiments. To greatly expand the reach, we will integrate the nation of makers􀁅s national network to engage the open source maker community to contribute to the design, engineering and programming of equipment. Together, participants will address key challenges relevant to current NASA research. The key challenges identified in partnership with KSC researchers include: (1) how to efficiently use three dimensional growing space aboard spacecraft; (2) how to maintain plants without human intervention; and (3) how to design a robotic planting and harvesting system. Programs will include: (1) encouraging innovation through stem-based field trip programs for middle school students that coincide with the key challenges; (2) inspiring creativity by providing an opportunity for elementary students to design and illustrate solutions to the annual challenges (3) engaging our community through open sessions in the studio for garden visitors to address these challenges; (4) expanding our reach by disseminating the annual challenges through the nation of maker􀁅s national network of makerspaces; (5) developing a network by sponsoring a session at the annual nation of makers􀁅 conference where participants can showcase their solutions to the annual challenge and (6) communicating ideas: by having participants share their designs, questions and discoveries through google science journal. The project goals include : (1) creating an innovative and accessible research facility that will provide the tools and opportunities for the community to actively contribute to ongoing food production and botanical research; (2) providing stem focused education opportunities for students to experiment with scientifically important questions and contribute to real-world research; (3) developing a national network of professional and non-professionals to contribute to the design of a growth system for use aboard spacecraft and other planets. With funding, we expect the following outcomes: (1) participants will understand the need for growing plants in space, become aware of ongoing NASA plant science research and be inspired to participate; (2) children and families will become more interested in stem activities, and more confidence in conducting research; (3) students will strengthen research skills, increase botany knowledge and improved aptitude towards stem disciplines; (4) NASA researchers will have access to additional useful data and designs to support their research efforts.