The Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) is a plant growth unit developed in partnership between Sierra Nevada subsidiary ORBITEC and NASA.
“The Plant Habitat growing space accommodates a shoot area of 1708 cm2, a shoot height of 43 cm, a root area of 1853 cm2, and a root height of 5 cm. The Plant Habitat has an active temperature control system that uses thermoelectric coolers to heat and cool the air inside the shoot zone with a range of +18 to +30 °C and an accuracy of ±0.5 °C from the set point; temperature is uniform within ±1 °C in the plant canopy plane. Humidity is in the range of 50 to 90 percent relative humidity (RH) and is accurate within ±3 percent RH from the set point. Also in the shoot zone, Plant Habitat provides sensor capability to measure light levels in the photosythetically active and the red/far red range and the ability to measure the surface temperature of a plant canopy or other sample surface. In the root zone, the standard Plant Habitat science platform provides a variety of sensing capabilities that include: temperature, moisture levels and oxygen content.” – NASA APH Overview
Spacecraft: International Space Station
In Service: April 2017 – present
