Plant Growth Chamber for Space Studies

The cultivation of higher plants plays an essential role in bio-regenerative life support systems for food production, CO2reduction, O2 production, as well as for waste recycling and water management. Fresh crops are also expected to have a positive impact on the crew psychological health. Space has unique conditions for biological studies.Biological samples in the space are subject to various stresses including zero gravity, microgravity, irradiation, vibrations, magnetic fields and microorganisms. The effect of space stresses that living organisms are important for human long-duration missions to space and for the improvement of science and technology. Sending plant biological samples to the space needs the design and construction of plant growth systems. At first, these systems had a simple structure, and then they becamemore advanced during the flight. The study of these systems is important in terms of theirappearance, lighting system, food circulation, ventilation system and temperature. In this paper, plant cultivation systems are studied in Salyut Space Station,Mir, Space Shuttle and International Space Station.