Lakewood High SchoolHUNCH Project

AbstractThe experiment is being flown as part of the High School Students United with NASA to Create Hardware

(HUNCH) program. It was designed by the students from the Sustainable Energy/ Living class at Lakewood

High School in Lakewood, Colorado. This project provides the astronauts aboard the ISS access to fresh

food. The plants will be watered through a teardrop shaped hydrofuge system. In the Omega system, the

plant chamber will be flooded with water by a pump. Then, after the roots have had adequate access to the

water, the excess water will be removed via the pump. This excess water will then gravitate towards the

smallest angle, in the bottom of the tear drop, due to surface tension and polarity. As the pump is draining

the chamber, the plant will be spun to shake off water that remained on the roots. If the water sticks to the

roots of the plant, the roots will rot and the plant will die. The students will observe watering systems, water

removal, spinning of the centrifuge design, and efficiency of the tear drop shape.

Class Photo

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