Plant Pillow Preparation for the Veggie Plant Growth System on the International Space Station

The Veggie plant growth chamber was launched to the International Space Station in 2014. Plant pillows are small rooting packets that contain substrate, fertilizer, and germination wicks along with attached seeds. The pillows were designed to interface with the Veggie root mat reservoir watering system to provide a capillary watering connection. In preparation for flight, arcillite substrate is washed, autoclaved and oven dried. A controlled released fertilizer is then mixed into arcillite substrate at a rate of 7.5 g / L. Seeds are surface sterilized and tested for both germination and sterility prior to flight. Plant pillows consist of TeflonTM coated Kevlar® and Nomex® pouches that are prepared by 1) cutting and inserting germination wicks, 2) filling with substrate/fertilizer mix, and 3) sewing the open end closed. Seeds are glued on the wicks and pillows are packaged for flight. Pillow preparation methods have been successfully tested in the Veg-01 hardware validation tests on the International Space Station with lettuce (Lactuca sativa) cv. Outredgeous’ and zinnia (Zinnia hybrida) cv. Profusion. An additional validation test, Veg-03, is planned with Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa var. chinensis) cv. Tokyo bekana.