Astronaut Greens Need UV Beams

Overview

With limited capacity to store food on spacecrafts NASA is currently investigating growing foods, in particular lettuce, while in flight and on other planets.   Managing food contamination is difficult in space and I have designed a low powered, UVCLED, compact device called the DEMETER to treat space grown lettuce and replace NASAs current method of pressing lettuce between two citric acid wipes to kill bacteria. To test the DEMETER, I conducted bacterial counts after DEMETER treatment in comparison with lettuce treated with wipes and untreated lettuce. The DEMETER treated lettuce significantly decreased bacterial counts compared to controls, whereas lettuce treated with wipes showed no reduction.  I also performed a quantitative colour analysis on DEMETER treated lettuce, confirming the lettuce remain just fresh as before treatment.  The DEMETER is superior to NASA’s current standard for decontaminating lettuce and should be considered for deep space missions where growing food is critical.

Awards (2)

• Silver Medal
• Selected for CWSF 2026

Competition history

• CWSF 2026 Aerospace

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