Plant Water Management in Microgravity

The Plant Water Management (PWM) project demonstrates the concepts of adequate hydration and aeration to a plant’s root zone in a microgravity environment to sustain plant life from germination through harvest. PWM capitalizes on physics and geometry that is functional in both a normal and microgravity environment to deliver water and nutrients.

CSS was selected by NASA through its REMIS contract to serve as payload developer, performing mission integration and operations to advance the fundamental research to a higher TRL (Technology Readiness Level). CSS supported the PWM principle investigator in developing the science and engineering requirements that served as the blueprint for developing the 3,4,5 and 6 series of hardware delivered to the International Space Station (ISS) for demonstration.