Modeling the growth dynamics of four candidate crops for controlled ecological life support systems (CELSS)

The production of food for human life support for advanced space missions, such as the lunar and Mars bases, will require the management of many different crops. The research to design these food production capabilities along with the waste management to recycle human metabolic wastes and inedible plant components are parts of the NASA program in Controlled Ecological Life Support Systems (CELSS). Since complete operating CELSS have not yet been built, a useful adjunct to the research developing the various pieces of a CELSS are system simulation models that can examine what we currently know about the possible assembly of subsystems into a full CELSS. This report examines the growth dynamics of four crops - wheat, soybeans, potatoes, and lettuce - for their general similarities and differences within the context some of their important effects upon the dynamics of the gases, liquids, and solids in the CELSS.