Florida Tech senior Trent Causey has always wanted to be an astronaut. For now, he’s an astrobiology student researching sustainable methods of feeding astronauts on long-term missions to the moon and Mars. One promising development: he might be able to improve extraterrestrial crop growth by using peanut shells to reduce regolith compaction.
Causey is a student in associate professor Andrew Palmer’s Lab of Chemical Ecology and Astrobiology. He is testing how plant fiber in the form of peanut shells can improve conditions for crop growth in lunar regolith (next is testing on Martian regolith.) His senior design project, Promoting Extraterrestrial Agriculture through Novel Techniques for Sustainability (PEANUTS), explores space crop production through bioregenerative systems, which use biological organisms to regenerate spent resources.
Crops struggle to grow in lunar regolith in part because the soil becomes compact when watered, Causey explained. Compact soil stifles root growth by slowing aeration and water drainage. He hopes to amend the regolith by adding fibrous peanut shells to the soil as a spacer. The shells loosen the soil, opening space for air and water flow.
The ability to grow food on-site is crucial for future space habitation. Space crop production would save money by reducing the volume of cargo flying to and from Earth. More importantly, however, it is essential for astronauts’ survival; they need a reliable food source, Causey said.
“For any scenario in which something may go wrong, we need to make sure that [astronauts] are safe in these habitats,” Causey said. “If we cannot sustain ourselves on another planet, then we are putting people’s lives at risk.”
If successful, Causey’s enhanced regolith setup will bring researchers closer to establishing the consistent, on-site crop growth needed to feed astronauts. An added benefit: using peanut shells instead of an inorganic product – such as perlite, which is often used as a spacer on Earth – reduces waste by reusing inedible plant mass that might otherwise be thrown away.
Causey’s testing is still ongoing, but he’s already seen promising results: plants are growing better in the peanut shell-enhanced simulated regolith than in the simulated regolith alone.
After graduation, Causey will continue his research in Palmer’s lab while pursuing a master’s degree in ecology. He still wants to become an astronaut someday, but he found a love for the research process along the way.
“I genuinely love it. It sounds so weird, but I love tearing my hair out over a problem,” Causey said. “Trying to figure out how to solve [a problem] and what steps have been made…it’s so stressful when I’m doing it, but it’s so rewarding.”
Causey will present this research at the university’s annual Northrop Grumman Engineering & Science Student Design Showcase on April 25.
