The Planetary Society’s Science and Technology Empowered by the Public (STEP) Grants provide funding to innovation projects that advance space science and exploration. The 2023 round of STEP Grants awarded $50,000 USD to a team led by Dr. Andrew Palmer of the Florida Institute of Technology to study deep-space agriculture to address the challenge of feeding astronauts on long-duration missions.
“The Planetary Society’s funding has been transformative in a variety of ways,” said Palmer. “It has fueled science, created new projects, and helped strengthen the space agriculture network.” The team has published three scientific papers based on the research enabled by the grant, with another two to three expected this year.
The main goal of the CHRGE (Comparing Hydroponics and Regolith Growth and Evolution) project was to compare plant growth in lunar regolith simulant versus hydroponic systems. Measuring growth across multiple generations of plants, the team has collected comprehensive data on metrics like edible biomass yields as well as practical considerations like water usage, power requirements, and crew time. They are also working to improve the development of Martian regolith simulants, testing various factors that might affect plant growth.