μG-LilyPond™ will provide supplemental fresh food for microgravity spacecraft habitats, at reduced cost for infrastructure, power, consumables, and crew time. Space Lab’s Phase III goal is the development of a flight ready μG-LilyPond™ unit to be flown on the ISS or other orbiting research facilities for operational demonstration. There are also many innovative technologies within the growth chamber that could be valuable to several NASA programs, including the capillary growth bed, close canopy LED lighting, rotary sieve harvester, and environmental control algorithms. Each of these technologies are vital components of integrated chamber but can also be modular elements incorporated into other research platforms. The growth chamber and its modular technologies have the potential for infusion into several NASA programs, including the Advanced Exploration Systems program under HEOMD for bioregenerative food production or synthetic biology applications (biofuel). The growth chamber could also serve as an improved research platform for gravitational biology under SLPSRA. The modular technologies could also be incorporated into existing life science research facilities. SLPSRA could use the capillary driven water re-cycling loop as a research platform for fluid physics. HRP could utilize our growth chamber to research the in-flight production of vitamins, protein, and n3 fatty acids. μG-LilyPond™ could also be utilized on the ISS as a plant biology research facility.
Water Lentils as a Food Ingredient/Nutritional Supplement: LilyPond Water Lentils are a whole food ingredient that can be used in high protein nutritional supplements, food products like baked goods, or even as a fresh vegetable, sold either fresh or freeze dried to food product manufacturers and nutritional supplement providers. With a specially optimized growth process, we can provide a water lentil product with higher nutritional density and yield than other water lentils on the market today. Agricultural Equipment/Supplies for Indoor Duckweed Vertical Farming: When we have established a market demand for our innovative, nutritionally dense plant product, we can then start selling our customized agricultural equipment and proprietary environmental control software to other horticulturists. Close Canopy Lighting for Indoor Vertical Farming: Other potential commercial markets may exist for μG-LilyPond sub-system technologies, developed to optimize duckweed cultivation for autonomy and efficiency. For instance, the lighting system might be marketed to plant biology researchers. It will allow fine tuning of the light spectrum and high intensity output, with highly efficient LEDs in a relatively small panel. Space Lab has discussed this innovation with plant biologists who suggested we might market the lighting panel as a way to retrofit old growth chambers with outdated lighting systems.
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