Who is working on a doctorate in aerospace engineering sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder describes a SmartPot.

At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Heather Hava, right, who is working on a doctorate in aerospace engineering sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder, describes a computerized SmartPot, or SPOT, which could be used to grow plants in a deep-space habitat. The SPOTs could be tended by a Remotely Operated Gardening Rover, or ROGR, seen on the left. The system is being developed by the graduate students participating in the eXploration HABitat X-Hab Academic Innovation Challenge.

X-Hab Academic Innovation Challenge is a university-level activity designed to engage and retain students in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, disciplines. NASA will directly benefit from the effort by sponsoring the development of innovative habitat concepts from universities which may result in innovative ideas and solutions that could be applied to exploration habitats. For more: http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/technology/deep_space_habitat/xhab/ Photo credit: NASA/Daniel Casper