The Biomass Production System BPS Orbital Technologies Corporation ORBITEC, Madison, Wisconsin

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The Biomass Production System (BPS)Orbital
Technologies Corporation (ORBITEC), Madison,
Wisconsin

• Innovation
• The BPS is an innovative plant growth chamber
  that provides the precise environmental control
  required to perform meaningful plant research in
  microgravity.

Photo

• Accomplishments
• The Biomass Production System (BPS) is a
  controlled environment plant growth facility
  developed by Orbital Technologies Corporation in
  cooperation with NASA under the Small Business
  Innovation Research (SBIR) program to meet or
  exceed science, biotechnology and commercial
  plant growth requirements in the Space Station
  era.
• The BPS is configured for Shuttle Middeck,
  SpaceHab Module and EXPRESS Rack aboard the
  International Space Station (ISS). This system
  is being prepared for science and verification
  experimentation on Utilization Flight-1 and is
  also available commercially.
• The baseline BPS unit contains four plant growth
  chambers each with a growing area of 260 square
  centimeters and a height of 15.2 centimeters.
  The BPS operates with 28VDC power and forced air
  cooling and consists of four major elements the
  locker enclosure, the upper and lower avionics
  bays and the chamber access bay. NASA or
  commercial customers may lease or buy available
  units.

Biomass Production System

• Government/Science Applications
• The Biomass Production System was developed and
  tested as a precursor to the Plant Research Unit
  to fulfill a facilities capability within the
  Space Station Biological Research Program.
• The Photosynthesis Experiments and System Testing
  and Operations (PESTO) experiment was funded by
  NASA's Office of Life and Microgravity Sciences
  and Applications, Life Sciences Division, and
  will be the science payload during technology
  verification testing of the Biomass Production
  System (BPS). NASAs contractor and principle
  investigator for PESTO is Dynamac Corp.
• The objective of the PESTO experiment is to
  determine the effect of the space environment,
  specifically microgravity on photosynthesis and
  metabolism of wheat.

• Commercialization
• Both space and terrestrial applications exist for
  the Biomass Production System technologies. The
  environmental control technologies can apply to
  the Space Shuttle, Space Station, SpaceHab, plant
  and animal habitats, and other centrifuge
  facilities. Ground-based applications can extend
  into growth chambers, greenhouses, controlled
  environmental agricultural systems, humidity
  control in homes, offices, and other facilities
  automated maintenance of large and small
  plantscapes and specialized potting and planting
  systems for homes, offices, hotels, and public
  buildings.
• Significant commercial markets exist for BPS
  technologies. Spinoffs will be commercialized
  where possible. PLANET Products Corporation, a
  sister company of ORBITEC, transitions valuable
  technologies from initial development stages into
  viable commercial markets via production and
  sales, equity or market partnerships, and
  technology or product licenses.

Points of Contact - NASA/KSC - Dr. John Sager
321 476-4270 - ORBITEC - Thomas Crabb 608
827-5000 crabbt_at_orbitec.com
www.orbitec.com 1995 SBIR Phase II NAS10-12242
Kennedy Space Center Date of Update
04-11-2000 Success Story 10-014