Graduate Student Wins Prize For Space Strawberries
April 19, 2016 In the 2015 blockbuster film, “The Martian,” an astronaut/botanist survives more than 500 days on the planet Mars by growing potatoes. What seems like something far-fetched may be closer to reality, thanks to an invention from Heather Hava, a graduate student at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Hava has developed SmartPot, a hydroponic self-contained smart-growth chamber. Each SmartPot has a computer system and sensor.
The SmartPot has been tested to grow strawberries, tomatoes, basil, peas, and peppers. Hava developed software to help process data from the SmartPot and to provide proper plant care and help improve crop yields. Her invention recently won a $15,000 Lemelson prize from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Hava told the Denver Post there is a psychological benefit for astronauts to grow plants.
“Being able to have different color flowers, like alpine strawberries, helps (astronauts). While they’re anticipating waiting for the fruit, they have the first stage of joy of waiting for flowers,” she says.
Hava also is part of a project to develop automated robots to tend to the plants. She said her project did not come without challenges. Some of which, unsurprisingly, are the simple task of growing.
“Turns out plants are really hard to grow. They don’t just take care of themselves. A lot of people think you just add water and nutrients,” she said in the Denver Post article. “If only it were that simple. Engineers are very good at killing plants.”
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