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In July of 2008, 4Frontiers was awarded a $25,000 research grant by the Florida Space Grant Consortium to investigate prospective Mars greenhouse materials. The research consists of exposing several different transparent materials to simulated Mars surface conditions, replicating factors these materials would be exposed to if they were installed in a future Mars greenhouse (including pressures, temperatures, gas mixtures and incident light spectrums). The objective of the research is to evaluate the performance of these materials, investigating material degredation in terms of structural strength, material opacity and thermal transfer.
4Frontiers is pursuing this research in collaboration with the Biological & Agricultural Engineering Department of the University of Florida. Dated updates about the project will be included below, as the project moves forward. Return to this site periodically to follow the latest research progress.
Heat Transfer and Stress Investigations of Transparent Material Subjected to Internal Greenhouse Conditions in a Simulated Mars Surface Environment
Principal Investigators:
Ray A. Bucklin, Ph.D. - Professor, University of Florida
Joseph E. Palaia, IV - Vice President, 4Frontiers Corporation
THIS PROJECT IS SUPPORTED BY
THE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
THROUGH THE UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA'S FLORIDA SPACE GRANT CONSORTIUM
PROJECT UPDATES:
9/5/2009 4Frontiers intern Eric Travis will assist students from the University of Florida in taking initial measurements and inserting the experiment in the Mars simulation chamber. This will occur between September 7th and 9th, and will be followed by two weeks of sample exposure.
8/25/2009
Time on the Mars simulation chamber at the Space Life Sciences Lab at KSC has been scheduled to run our experiment. This window of activity will begin on September 7th and run for several weeks.
8/21/2009
All experiment hardware has been constructed and is ready for testing. Time on the simulation chamber at Kennedy Space Center is currently being scheduled.
1/29/2009
Design of the base plate of the experimental apparatus has been completed. This design has been verified in the chamber by printing out the CAD drawing 1:1 on paper, and inserting this into the chamber to verify dimensions. Alexander Stimpson and John Truett are performing calculations to determine appropriate thickness of the samples to be tested. After these values have been calculated, the base plate designed will be sent to the UF machine shop.
11/07/2008
A meeting was held at the SLSL. Measurements were taken of the chamber configuration, and next steps where discussed. The apparatus will be constructed and tested at UF Gainesville, and tests will be conducted in the chamber at the SLSL in March '09.
9/30/2008
The first disbursement of funds has been recieved from the Florida Space Grant Consortium. Next steps include scheduling time on the chamber at the SLSL, and locking in student participation. A face-to-face meeting with both Principal Investigators, UF student participants and staff at the SLSL is planned for the near-term.
8/10/2008
An initial coordination meeting took place several days ago at the University of Florida (UF) in Gainesville. One or more undergraduate students is being recruited to assist with construction of the experiment apparatus. A chamber at UF will be used to perform preliminary testing prior to moving the apparatus to the Mars Simulation Chamber at the Space Life Sciences Lab (SLSL) of the Kennedy Space Center in December or January. Also, there was some discussion regarding selection of the transparent materials to be tested.
8/4/2008
The company issued a press release about the project:
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