GreenCube: microgreens cultivation and growth monitoring on-board a 3U CubeSat

The in-orbit cultivation of vegetables, fruits, and edible plants is of paramount importance for the development of long-term manned space mission Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) and for the improvement of bio-regenerative systems. GreenCube is a 3U CubeSat mission aimed at demonstrating the functionalities of an autonomous cultivation laboratory that stems from a collaboration between the Sapienza University of Rome, the Italian Space Agency, University of Naples "Federico II", and ENEA. The satellite will cultivate microgreens in a pressurized vessel containing support systems and monitoring instrumentation for the plant growth. This paper describes the GreenCube mission and the instrumentation used for the growth support and monitoring.