Indefinite Delivery Contract NNK12EB79C

OTHER FUNCTIONS. THE DEPLOYABLE VEGETABLE PRODUCTION SYSTEM (VEGGIE) WAS ORIGINALLY CONCEIVED BY ORBITEC IN 1996 AS A WAY TO PRODUCE PALATABLE, NUTRITIOUS, AND SAFE FRESH FOOD IN A SPACE HABITAT WITH MINIMAL RESOURCES. IN 2003 A SBIR PHASE I GRANT WAS AWARDED TO PROVIDE DEVELOPMENT OF THE VEGGIE CONCEPT. THE SYSTEM WAS FURTHER DEVELOPED UNDER A SUBSEQUENT PHASE II SBIR AWARDED IN 2004 (CONTRACT NO. NNK04OA5C). THESE TWO SBIR S HAVE LED TO ORBITEC PARTICIPATING IN THE VEGGIE INNOVATIVE PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM(IPP) IN 2009-2010 (PHASE III CONTRACT NNK09EA88P) WITH NASA S KENNEDY SPACE CENTER (KSC). AS PART OF THE VEGGIE IPP, ORBITEC ADVANCED THE DESIGN OF THE VEGGIE UNIT CLOSER TO A FLIGHT QUALIFIABLE PACKAGE, DEVELOPED AN UPDATED PROTOTYPE (FIGURE 1) AND CONDUCTED PRELIMINARY VERIFICATION TESTING ON THIS HARDWARE WHICH WAS THEN DELIVERED TO KSC. THIS PROPOSED PHASE III EFFORT UTILIZES THE WORK PREVIOUSLY CONDUCTED TO FABRICATE, VERIFY, AND PROVIDE VEGGIE FLIGHT UNITS TO KSC FOR USE ON ISS.THE VEGGIE CONCEPT IS BASED ON THE USE OF COLLAPSIBLE GROWING MODULES THAT CAN BE STORED IN A SMALL VOLUME (FIGURE 2). APPROXIMATELY 1M2 OF GROWING AREA CAN BE STOWED WITHIN THE EQUIVALENT OF A SINGLE CARGO TRANSFER BAG (JSC-39233 REV. D, CARGO TRANSFER BAG INTERFACE DESIGN DOCUMENT). VEGGIE PROVIDES LIGHTING AND WATER/ NUTRIENT DELIVERY, BUT UTILIZES THE CABIN ENVIRONMENT FOR TEMPERATURE CONTROL AND AS A SOURCE OF CO2 TO MINIMIZE COMPLEXITY AND POWER REQUIREMENTS. THE VEGGIE SYSTEM COMPRISES THREE MAJOR COMPONENTS: THE LIGHT CAP, THE ENCLOSURE, AND THE ROOTING MAT. THE CORE OF THE VEGGIE SYSTEM IS THE SOLID-STATE LIGHTING UNIT. THE COMPACT CONFIGURATION OF THIS SYSTEM IS ONLY POSSIBLE USING VERY LOW PROFILE ARRAYS OF LEDS. THESE SOLID-STATE LIGHTS HAVE PROPERTIES THAT CAN BE MANIPULATED TO PRODUCE HIGH LIGHT LEVELS WITH LESS POWER THAN OTHER LIGHTING TECHNOLOGIES. LEDS ALSO ELIMINATE MANY OF THE HAZARDS OF STANDARD LIGHTING SYSTEMS LIKE HIGH TOUCH TEMPERATURES AND THE USED OF TOXIC MATERIALS LIKE MERCURY. THE VEGGIE ENCLOSURE IS IN A BELLOWS CONFIGURATION AS THIS FORM REQUIRES MINIMUM HARDWARE (LIGHTWEIGHT AND LOW VOLUME), ALLOWS RAPID DEPLOYMENT AND RE-STOW, PROVIDES A SOFT ENCLOSURE FOR THE GROWING AREA, SUPPORTS ELEVATED HUMIDITY LEVELS IN THE GROWING AREA, AND ALLOWS ADJUSTMENT TO MAINTAIN A FIXED DISTANCE BETWEEN THE GROWING PLANT CANOPY AND THE LIGHT CAP. DIFFERENT TYPES OF ROOTING SYSTEMS CAN BE USED WITH THE VEGGIE DESIGN.