A Deployable Salad Crop Production System for Lunar Habitats

The Deployable Vegetable Production System (VEGGIE) was originally developed as a way to produce fresh vegetables on the ISS with minimal resources. We are reassessing this system for use in lunar habitats to produce palatable, nutritious, and safe fresh food, provide a recreational tool, and provide a platform to support biological life support development by allowing in situ study of crop productivity and air and water revitalization. The VEGGIE system consists of plant growth chambers that can be stowed in a volume less than 10% of their deployed volume, while still providing the light output and root zone capabilities necessary to support high plant productivity rates. The system has significantly reduced logistical and operational requirements compared to other plant growth systems, and is of a modular design to allow logistical flexibility in terms of transport options and placement in a habitat structure.