LeJoker t1_ixeov1k wrote on November 22, 2022 at 9:41 PM

Reply to comment by ATPSpaceFood in AskScience AMA Series: We're Competing to Make the Mars Habitat Food Production System! AUA! by AskScienceModerator

What would cause the need for a system reset? Do you anticipate this needing to be done on any sort of regular basis? If so, how often?

ATPSpaceFood t1_ixezeb6 wrote on November 22, 2022 at 10:56 PM

To clarify, system reset refers to planting the system again. The trigger is that the user wants more food!

It's not easy to say how often this would need to be done, as it depends on the program being run, though the absolute shortest program that it can run is 35 days. Right now, we're running 35 day cycles, so we reset every 35-40 days. Resets could occur as far apart from each other as 120+ days; it all depends on what the user wants out of it. We reset our first prototype after 3-4 months; I can't remember the exact number of days right off the top of my head.

Note that we say that daily maintenance is 0. Expecting to never interact with the device isn't realistic, and it's definitely not something that we're claiming. However...to defend our 40 minute replanting time, resetting the system takes less time per 35 days than I spend shopping for food per week!