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Formation of an Interactive Plant Outreach Database with Integration of Clinostat Data for Space Life Sciences Education. Rachel Naegele1, Chinyere Nwokeabia2, Peter Chetirkin3, William Payne4, 1University of Hawaii Manoa, 2California State University, Long Beach, 3Dynamac Corporation, FL., 4Matrix Information Systems Incorporated, FL.

   Numerous plant-based experiments were conducted at the end of the 20th century, including experiments in the hypobaric Biomass Production Chamber (BPC) at the Kennedy Space Center as part of the Controlled Ecological Life Support System. The data collected from these experiments are being standardized into an Interactive Plant Outreach Database (IPOD) which will be made available to researchers and students.

   IPOD organizes these data into a useable interactive format designed to provide information about plant optimization in Advanced Life Support (ALS) systems. To show how this integration would occur, experiments with clinostats were conducted to examine the effects of microgravity on Brassica rapa development. Only physiological effects such as plant height, water retention, number of flowers and leaves, and seed pod development were recorded. Because environmental conditions are unique to each experiment, the data and the growing conditions were incorporated into the IPOD.

   Information about the growing medium BIONA, a recently developed Russian substrate, also was included in the database. The data collected showed a difference in the water retention of the two BIONA substrates tested and a difference in the physiology of the plants in the clinostats.