The University of ARIZONA®

Controlled Environment Agriculture Center
College Of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Instruction Research Extension

The proposal from The University of Arizona, Controlled Environment Agriculture Center, and the Sadler Machine Company was selected for funding of the design, construction, testing, and delivery of a Food Growth Chamber (FGC) for the South Pole Station. The 3-year, $425,000 project was announced in April of 2002. Details of the project and team personnel vitae follow the Update.

Project Update (December, 2003):

Salad at the South Pole
Growth Chamber Offers Physical and Psychological Benefits

Fresh produce doesn't come to mind when you hear the word "Antarctica." Researchers living there usually eat packaged food year round indoors. They can suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a health malaise brought on by a lack of full spectrum natural light, and they long for the sight, taste and touch of plant life in the most isolated place on earth. They've also learned that having access to plants can raise morale and increase productivity.

For these reasons, personnel based at the new Amundsen-Scott research station at the South Pole will be growing and harvesting their own salad vegetables by 2004 in a special high-technology facility designed, built and tested by the University of Arizona. Scientists from the Controlled Environment Agriculture Center (CEAC) in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences are collaborating on the project with Phil Sadler, of Sadler Machine Company in Tempe, Arizona.

"The main purpose for including the food growth chamber in the new station is the psychological effect that it has on the station personnel," says Gene Giacomelli, UA professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering, and director of the Controlled Environment Agriculture program at the UA. "They are totally isolated in a frozen, 9,000-foot elevation desert of snow, 800 miles from the coast of Antarctica, where temperatures can reach lows of minus 118 degrees Fahrenheit. For seven to eight months of the year, temperatures are so low that aircraft cannot land and no one can come or go."

The self-contained unit will feature a food growth chamber equipped for raising leafy greens and fruiting vegetable crops hydroponically, separated by a transparent wall from a sitting room where researchers can relax and enjoy the sight of lush green plants. Lettuce, herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers, and sweet and hot peppers will be grown in a recirculating nutrient solution. Automated controls for air temperature, light, humidity, watering and nutrients will enable researchers to raise and eat their vegetables year-round.

The chamber is part of a new South Pole research station that will be officially commissioned in 2004 by the National Science Foundation (NSF), which directs activities of the United States Antarctic Program. The NSF is constructing a replacement for the existing station with the assistance of its civilian contractor, Raytheon Polar Services Company (RPSC). The South Pole Food Growth Chamber Project was initiated by the NSF, which RPSC competitively bid, and the UA ultimately won. The UA must build and deliver an operable unit to the South Pole and provide training for RPSC engineers who will be managing it.

Not only does the team want a diet they are accustomed to that includes fresh salads, they also need the visual and sensory stimulation offered by green plants, which are absent at the South Pole. The 20 by 30 foot chamber will give them the chance to see, feel and smell vegetable and herb plants year-round, but also provide them with a bright environment of enhanced spectrum lighting, according to Giacomelli. The crop yields will be adjusted to the size of the current station population, which will include 200 people during the Antarctic's 3-month summer, and 30-40 people the remainder of the year.

The UA is no stranger to development of food production facilities within environmentally hostile areas, according to Giacomelli. In the early 1970s controlled environment vegetable production greenhouses were successfully operated by the university in the deserts of the Middle East and northern Mexico using technological advances in horticulture and engineering. In Antarctica, the UA is combining its innovations in hydroponic food production and controlled environment agriculture with the engineering and manufacturing abilities of Sadler Machine Company.

The design of the sitting room in particular was based on the suggestions and experience of Phil Sadler, a former Antarctic construction worker and current designer of controlled environment facilities, together with Raytheon and other government engineers, scientists and technicians. By having a room with a big window where people can sit and look at growing plants while they play cards or socialize, Giacomelli says, they'll be able to experience the healthy effects of being around growing plants in a lighted environment that helps them flourish. Aside from the intensive hydroponic crops in the food growth chamber, station personnel will also have the opportunity to assist in caring for other plants in the sitting area.

Sadler's expertise as a former biologist and current engineer and manufacturer, coupled with his experience in Antarctica, make him a natural partner with the UA on the project, Giacomelli notes. "Phil's got the experience ‘on the ice' because he has lived and worked at the pole, and he built the first successful food growth chambers and greenhouse in Antarctica. He can build top quality, long lasting and capable equipment to furnish the food growth chamber," Giacomelli says. The current project will be the first officially commissioned food growth chamber for the NSF, replacing a small test greenhouse that proved successful.

"The lighting source he has designed–a water-cooled lamp–is of particular value. Phil makes lamps that are more than 10 times as powerful as a 40-watt light bulb, but are so cool you can touch them with your hand," he says. "They are practical to use in the confined space of a growth chamber where plants can get close to them and not be damaged by excessive heat."

The ultimate goal of the food growth chamber is to provide a better quality of life for researchers who live and work at the South Pole, and to help others understand how people can adapt to living in seclusion without seeing the sun for months on end.

"For five and a half months there is no sunshine, just total darkness," Giacomelli says. "The benefit is not only for fresh food at that time, but also for the high intensity light that mimics the sun, the high humidity, the aromas and flavors, that remind us that we're alive and that we enjoy eating. Psychologically it's very important."

Project Summary

The New South Pole Station requires a Food Growth Chamber that will provide an appropriate level of advanced technology, which a volunteer staff can operate. The purpose for including the FGC is the psychological effect for satisfying the diet of the station personnel, as well as, their visual and sensory needs for seeing, feeling, and interacting with plants. This project will result in the design, construction, testing, and delivery of a Food Growth Chamber (FGC) by the University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ in collaboration with Sadler Machine Company, Tempe, AZ.

The FGC is divided by a transparent sealed wall into two sections, to separate the Production Room (PR) from the Enviroroom (ER). The PR is a closed, highly controlled and monitored, semi-automated plant growth environmental room with high intensity discharge (HID) lighting, atmospheric CO2 enrichment, and a recirculating hydroponic nutrient delivery system (NDS), which has been engineered for achieving the highest production of salad and fruiting crops for the station personnel. The ER is a ‘sitting’ room for station personnel to relax within a semi-tropical atmosphere (elevated humidity and lighting) while viewing the active plant growth of the PR crops through the transparent wall separating the two adjacent rooms. The ER will also produce small amounts of a wide variety of edible plants, providing an area for hobbyists to enjoy, and it will provide station personnel with an escape from typical life at the station.

The first year objective is to construct and prepare the FGC for transport. Operations and maintenance educational support will be provided for the FGC during the subsequent two years of the project.

Purpose

With the past success of the McMurdo Greenhouse in providing salad crops to the ‘winter-over’ population, providing an enjoyable environment for station personnel to spend time, and providing a hobbyist gardening opportunity, the Office of Polar Programs supported the establishment of the South Pole Food Growth Chamber. The initial South Pole Growth Chamber was prefabricated in McMurdo in 1992, and constructed onsite by volunteers. It has been a volunteer effort from the beginning, and OPP wishes for the new South Pole Food Growth Chamber to continue in this manner.

The New South Pole Station, when completed, will be a structure of advanced design and operation. The new Food Growth Chamber will also represent advanced design and operation for growth chamber technology. Chamber operators will have a great influence on the success or failure of the growth chamber as a producer of edible crops. Employing a volunteer group of persons operating the new chamber will be considerably different than having a trained horticulturist operating the chamber. One major challenge in designing the new South Pole Food Growth Chamber will be providing appropriate levels of automated and manually operable advanced technology, so that a volunteer staff can be successful.

Including the FGC in the new station will provide an enhanced psychological effect on the station personnel, most importantly satisfying their desire for a diet of fresh salads that they are accustomed. However, the station personnel also have a desire to satisfy their visual and sensory longings for seeing, feeling, and smelling green plants. Such has not been available at the South Pole. This is the role of the Enviro-room, and it will provide station personnel with an enjoyable space filled with edible plants. This is a much smaller space than the PR and it will not have the high light intensities or the enriched CO2 atmosphere as the PR. The focus will be on allowing station personnel to grow herbs and favored edible plants of their own choice in this area, with much lower production expectations. Providing a growing area where station personnel can recreational garden comes from the experiences learned from the McMurdo Growth Chamber. Without such separated space, there can be a reduced efficiency and yields within the high production area resulting from the recreational gardeners growing varieties that do not belong in PR, such as non-salad crops.

Goals

The UA project will provide a chamber with high plant productivity, and high energy efficiency, which satisfies the station’s human sensory requirements (edible food and therapeutics issues), while requiring an appropriate minimal level of operational and maintenance skills that an informed and interested volunteer staff can provide on a day-to-day basis.

Advantages and Opportunities of the FGC

• Experience of Mr. Sadler of Sadler Machine Company, who founded the McMurdo and South Pole food production chambers, and headed operations for 5 years.
• Chamber plant production technology developed in cooperation with NASA food production in space program through University of Arizona Space Act Agreement.
• Advanced technology water-cooled lamps for plant growth.
• Lighting system utilizes the same Station chilled glycol cooling system as the HVAC system
• The Double Pass Growing Tray is an effective size for production, yet offers easy transport and movement for maximizing space utilization, harvesting and cleaning, while minimizing downtime and labor time.
• Plant trays mounted on adjustable frames to allow for varied height requirements of different crops.
• Plant trays for salad greens function as transport and post-harvest storage devices.
• Two isolated environments, the Intensive Agriculture Section (IAS) for maximum production, and the Enviro-Room (ER) for sensory stimulation and hobby gardening. This arrangement also allows for secondary capture of CO2 from the IAS.
• Automated control system at an appropriate level of complexity for volunteer staff.
• Remote monitoring and control system that will allow access from U.S. to monitor and help guide the operation of the chamber.
• Separated utility room for safe and secure location and storage of hardware and consumables.
• Three-year program for continued support for successful implementation.
• Training courses and operational support after delivery of the FGC.

Team Personnel Vitae

Background info on technical experiences

Our collaborative group, includes the University of Arizona’s Controlled Environment Agriculture Center and Sadler Machine Co. which offers expert knowledge of Controlled Environment Agriculture systems, and expert knowledge of horticultural applications at the South Pole and McMurdo Stations, respectively. We currently have ongoing efforts in developing growth chamber lighting with NASA, web-based control systems operation for agriculture, and industrial hydroponic efforts with major greenhouse tomato growers. With our association with NASA’s Johnson Space Center and Kennedy Space Center, we are in touch with the cutting edge of CEA technology and are in a position to incorporate any appropriate technology into the FGC effort. Finally, extending the length of our effort to cover the period of fabrication, transport, construction at the site, and startup service, will help to guarantee the success of this effort.

Collaborators include:

Dr. Patricia Rorabaugh, Plant Sciences, The University of Arizona
Dr. Chris Choi, Ag. & Biosystems Engineering, The University of Arizona
Dr. Merle Jensen, Plant Sciences, The University of Arizona
Dr. Chieri Kubota, Plant Sciences, The University of Arizona
Stephen Kania, Ag. & Biosystems Engineering, The University of Arizona
Dr. Ralph Prince, NASA Kennedy Space Center [retired]

Philip D. Sadler, Sadler Machine Co.

Presently owns and operates a small prototype development shop in Tempe, Arizona, working in cooperation with NASA Johnson Space Center, Advanced Life Support, and the University of Arizona, Controlled Environment Agriculture Center, in the development of the SMC Water Jacketed HPS and MH Lighting System.

Mr. Sadler was a Research Specialist at the University of Arizona, Department of Agriculture and Biosystems Engineering(1996-97). He earned his B.S. in Botany from Northern Arizona University in 1978. Mr. Sadler has been involved in many prestigious research projects such as the NASA grant involving solar collection, transportation, and redistribution of light for space horticulture. He initiated United States Antarctic Program's horticultural project, established, designed, and constructed, along with his volunteer work force, the McMurdo Greenhouse 1989, and established South Pole Greenhouse 1993. He was awarded the United States Antarctic Service Medal in 1979.

Mr. Sadler has been an Invitational Symposium Speaker at the following:

Ecosynthesis: Creating Open and Closed Ecosystems on Mars, 2000, Mars Greenhouse Workshop, NASA Kennedy Space Center, 1999, American Society of Agricultural Engineers Conference, 1995; the Hydroponic Society of America Conference, 1995; the Kennedy Space Center, 1994; the EPCOT Land Pavilion, 1994; the Johnson Space Center, 1994; and the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, Bariloche, Argentina, 1992. His publications include: Sadler, P.D. 2000, Wire Culture For an Inflatable Mars Greenhouse and other Future Inflatable Space Growth Chambers, NASA Technical Memorandum 2000-208577,

1995: Plant Hydroponics in Antarctica, ASAE Journal; Sadler, P.D. 1995, The Antarctic Horticultural Project - 16th Hydroponic Soc.; of America Conference, Tucson, AZ p.97-107; Sadler, P.D. 1994; Greenhouses at McMurdo and South Pole Stations-Antarctic; Journal of the United States. March Vol. XXIX pg. 4-6; Sadler, P.D. 1993, Gardening on Ice- The Growing Edge. Vol. 5 No. 2 p.36-39.68; Sadler, P.D. 1992, The Establishment of Greenhouses at the United States; and McMurdo and South Pole Stations. 1992 SCAR Conference. Bariloche, Argentina.

Dr. Gene A. Giacomelli
Professor & Director CEAC
The University of Arizona
Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
1951 East Roger Road
Tucson, Arizona 85719
Ph: 520 626-9566
giacomel@ag.arizona.edu

Doctor Gene A. Giacomelli is the Director of the Controlled Environment Agriculture Center [CEAC] at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona, and he is a professor in the Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Department. Dr. Giacomelli has B.S [Rutgers University] and M.S. [University of California-Davis] degrees in engineering, and a PhD in Horticultural Engineering [Rutgers University], with advanced study in plant science and controlled environment production horticulture. This mix of technical expertise with crop production experience, provides an application of engineering design to the horticultural production problems within intensive controlled environment plant production systems. He developed the Horticultural Engineering degree program at Rutgers University, the first of its kind in the US.

Dr. Giacomelli has designed, constructed, instrumented and operated various types of environmentally controlled greenhouses utilizing hydroponic-based crop production systems, including NFT, Ebb and Flood and aeroponic systems for greenhouse lettuce, tomato, strawberry, and numerous other crops. His professional activities have focused on Controlled environment plant production systems [greenhouse and growth chamber] research, design, development and applications, with emphases on: crop production systems, nutrient delivery systems, environmental control, mechanization, and labor productivity.

He has developed and taught a 1-day greenhouse hydroponic crop production short course for more than 10 years, and has taught a greenhouse environmental control short course for nearly 20 years.

Dr. Giacomelli has lectured and studied in numerous countries around the world, including Canada, Chile, England, New Zealand, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, The Netherlands, Spain, Korea, and Taiwan. He has chaired or organized international symposia or workshops in the U.S., Japan, Taiwan and The Netherlands. He is an active member of numerous scientific and professional societies, serving as an officer and on technical committees for the American Society for Horticultural Science, American Society for Plasticulture, American Society of Agricultural Engineers, and the Northeast Agricultural and Biological Engineering Conference.

He is the co-developer of two patented devices.

He is currently developing a Controlled Environment Agriculture program at the University of Arizona, Tucson, which includes: educating undergraduates and graduate students in engineering, Plant Sciences and Ag. Education; researching controlled environment plant production systems, and; outreach through cooperative extension to the citizens of Arizona.

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