Betty Miller, Randy Westin, and Wayne Fischer

Boise State University

February 12th, 2010
 Acknowledgements
 This project was accomplished with the support of several people.
Sincere appreciation is given to everyone involved who shared his or
her time and knowledge as we developed our design proposal.


v Dr. Barbara Morgan, Special Lecturer and former astronaut, Boise

State University Departments of Education and Engineering in
Boise, Idaho; and Dr. Robert Davidson, Boise State University
Department of Engineering in Boise, Idaho.


v Mr. Greg Miller, Seed Technology Specialist, Mr. Brad Peters, US

Quality Control Manager, and Cody Reynolds, Manager of
Operational Technologies, Nunhems USA, Inc. in Parma, Idaho;


v Dr. Douglass E. Owen, Park Ranger Naturalist/Park Geologist, Craters

of the Moon National Monument and Preserve in Arco, Idaho;


v Dr. Jared Noorda, Design Engineer, HyPerComp Engineering;



v Dr. Michele H. Perchonok, Manager Shuttle Food System/Advanced

Food Technology; Dr. Thomas A. Sullivan, Senior Engineer
Specialist, NASA/Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas; Dr.
Paul D. Spudis, Senior Staff Scientist, Lunar and Planetary Institute
in Houston, Texas.


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 Lunar Seed Repository

Figure 1 : Schematic of the seed repository at Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway [10].

Å Technical Rationale
v Easily transportable
v Cost-effective
v Basic data gathering


Å PISCES and the Bronco Lunar

Agricultural Design Team (BLADT)

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 Overview of the Lunar Seed Repository Design

I. Concepts and Strategies

II.
III.Selection of Seed
IV.
V. Packaging and Radiation Mitigation
VI.
VII.Container Locations and Monitoring
VIII.
IX.Analog Experiments

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 I. Concepts and Strategies
Lunar Seed Repository Project

A. Appropriateness of Proposal
B.
C. Required Tech. Developments for a
Life Support System
D.
E. Seed Container
F.
G.Core Drilling
H.
I. Seed Technologies
v Preparation
v Storage

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
 I. Concepts and Strategies
Lunar Seed Repository Project

A. Appropriateness
of Proposal
Å


Figure 2: Lunar base development will fall into four principal

phases: a Precursor Phase, a Pioneering Phase, a
Consolidation Phase and a Settlement Phase [3].

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 I. Concepts and Strategies
Lunar Seed Repository Project

B. Required Tech. Developments for a Life

Support System


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 I. Concepts and Strategies
Lunar Seed Repository Project

C. Seed Container


Figure 3 : High-pressure container modified for seed containment [6].

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 I. Concepts and Strategies
Lunar Seed Repository Project

D. Core Drilling


Figure 4: Using a 2cm core bit Figure5: Surface temperature variation becomes constant at a depth of 100cm.
sampler, Apollo 12 astronauts were Placement of containers should reside at a depth of a 100cm to provide ideal
able to bore into the lunar surface and conditions to maintain pressure in seed containers [9].
yield samples to return to Earth [8].

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 I. Concepts and Strategies
Lunar Seed Repository Project

E. Seed Technologies
v Preparation
v Storage


Figure 6 : Aerial photo of Nunhems USA Inc. located in Parma, Idaho where our team was able to meet with
and tour the facility with seed technologists and company management, and participate in a question and
answer discussion.

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 II. Selection of Seed
Lunar Seed Repository Project

A. Lunar Seed and Plant Criteria



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 II. Selection of Seed
Lunar Seed Repository Project

B. Seed Longevity


Figure 7: Schematic presentation of the main interactive parameters determining seed longevity [17].

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 III. Packaging and Radiation Mitigation
Lunar Seed Repository Project

A. Seed Packaging
B.
C. Radiation
Mitigation


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 IV. Container Locations and Monitoring
Lunar Seed Repository Project

A. Using SELENE GIS Data



Figure8: Lunar topographic map of the near and far side of the Moon produced from precise altitude data at a
range of up to 5 meters obtained by the laser altimeter on board JASXA' KAGUYA [22].

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 V. Analog Experiments
Lunar Seed Repository Project

A. PISCES Field Test Site

B. Craters of the Moon National Monument


Figure 9: Field trip photo of lava tube at Craters of the Moon National Monument. Lava tube was found
off-trail approximately three miles from common public areas.

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 V. Analog Experiments
Lunar Seed Repository Project

A. PISCES Field Test Site

B. Craters of the Moon National Monument


Figure10: Pictured left Apollo 12 aerial photo of a lunar rille and pictured right an aerial photo of rille at
Crater's of the Moon National Monument in Arco, Idaho [23]

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 Plan for Project Completion
Å Mission, Project Goal, Performance Gaps


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 Plan for Project Completion
Å External Critical Success Factors


Å
Å Tentative Schedule

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 Plan for Project Completion
Å Action Items and Decisions Made Log
Å

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 Commitment to Project
Å
Å Team Members and Academic Goals
v Betty Miller
 M.S. Adult and Organization Learning and
Leadership
v Randy Westin
 B.S. Geophysics and Materials Science
v Wayne Fischer
 M.S. Mechanical Engineering


Å Website & Blog



Å Education and Community Outreach



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 Discussion

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 References
[1]
 Leafy Green Astronauts. (2001, April 9). Retrieved July 1, 2009, from
Science at Nasa Web site:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast09apr_1.htm
[2]
 Benaroya, H., & Bemold, L. (2008). Engineering of lunar bases. Acta
Astronautica, 62(4-5), 277-299.
[3]
 Eckart, P., Eckart, P., & Aldrin, B. (1999). The lunar base handbook: An
introduction to lunar base design, development, and operations. Space technology
series. New York: McGraw-Hill.
[4]
 Grandl, W. (2007). Lunar Base 2015 Stage 1 - Preliminary design study.
Acta Astronautica, 60(4-7), 554-560.
[5]
 Neal, C. R. (2009). The Moon 35 years after Apollo: What's left to learn?
Chemie Der Erde-Geochemistry, 69(1), 3-43.
[6]
 HyPerComp Engineering. Retrieved July 13, 2009, Web site:
http://www.hypercompeng.com/index.php

[7] Noorda, Jared. Personal interview. July 8th , 2009.
[8] Allton, J. H. (1989). Catalog of Apollo lunar surface geological sampling
tools and containers. JSC, 23454. Houston, Tex: NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space
Center.
[9]
 Lindsay+, Hamish (2008). ALSEP Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments
Package 19 November 1969 - 30 September 1977. Apollo Lunar Surface Journal,
Retrieved July 10th, 2009, from http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/HamishALSEP.html
[10]
 Fowler, C. (2008). The Svalbard Global Seed Vault: Securing the
 Future of Agriculture. The Global Crop Diversity Trust.


2/12/10 3rd Annual Meeting of the PISCES Group 22

 References Cont.
[11]
 Kameswara Rao, N. & Hanson, J. , Dulloo, M.E., Ghosh K., Nowell D. and
Larinde, M. Michael. (2006). Seed handling in genebanks Self-learning module.
Rome: Bioversity International.
[12] Sowing Seeds in a Magnetic Field. (n.d.). Retrieved May 31, 2009, from
http://weboflife.nasa.gov/currentResearch/currentResearchFlight/sowingSeeds.htm

[13]
 Schmidt, R. (1998). Physical mapping of the Arabidopsis thaliana genome.
Plant Physiology and Biochemistry : PPB. 36 (1-2), 1.
[14]
 The Arabidopsis Information Resource. [Statistics]. (n.d.). Retrieved July 7,
2009, from http://www.arabidopsis.org/index.jsp
[15]
 Tibbitts, T. W. (1989). Plant Considerations for Lunar Base Agriculture. In
D. W. Ming & D. L. Henninger (Ed.). Lunar base agriculture: Soils for plant growth.
(pp. 237-243). Madison, Wis., USA: American Society of Agronomy.

[16] Perchonok, Michele. Personal interview. July 10th , 2009.
[17] Kumagai, J., Katoh, H., Kumada, T., Tanaka, A., Tano, S., & Miyazaki, T.
(2000). Strong resistance of Arabidopsis thaliana and Raphanus sativus seeds for
ionizing radiation as studied by ESR, ENDOR, ESE spectroscopy and germination
measurement: Effect of long-lived and super-long-lived radicals. Radiation Physics
and Chemistry. 57 (1), 75-83.
[18]
 Rajjou, L., & Debeaujon, I. (2008). Seed longevity: Survival and
maintenance of high germination ability of dry seeds. Comptes Rendus Biologies.
331 (10), 796.
[19]
 Handling Arabidopsis Plants and Seeds. Retrieved July 14, 2009, from
http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/pcmb/Facilities/abrc/handling.htm


2/12/10  3rd Annual Meeting of the PISCES Group 23

 References Cont.
[20]
 Sinicio, R. (2004). Generalized Longevity Model for Orthodox Seeds.
Biosystems Engineering. 89 (1), 85-92
[21] Walters C, Wheeler L, & Stanwood PC. (2004). Longevity of cryogenically
stored seeds. Cryobiology. 48 (3), 229-44.
[22] Lunar Topographic Map using KAGUYA (SELENE) LALT observation data.
[Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved April 14, 2009, from
http://wms.selene.jaxa.jp/selene_viewer/en/observation_mission/lalt/004/lalt_004_1.gif

[23]
 Masursky, H., El-Baz, F., Doyle, F. J., & Colton, G. W. (1978). Apollo over
the moon a view from orbit.
[24] Spudis, Paul. Personal correspondence. July 14th , 2009.


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