{"id":632,"date":"2020-11-15T04:06:27","date_gmt":"2020-11-15T04:06:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sustainspace.com\/?p=632"},"modified":"2024-03-07T03:11:47","modified_gmt":"2024-03-07T03:11:47","slug":"nanoracks-starlab-agtech-space-farming-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sustainspace.com\/?p=632","title":{"rendered":"Nanoracks StarLab AgTech Space Farming Center"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Spacestation<\/a>

Rendering of greenhouses mounted externally to the Nanoracks Bishop Airlock on the ISS. Credit: Nanoracks \/ Mack Crawford<\/p><\/div>\n

The Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) has announced that they are partnering with Nanoracks via their Agriculture Technology (AgTech) Incentive Program, an effort that supports the development of cutting-edge programs to boost the emirate’s AgTech capabilities and promote innovation.<\/p>\n

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AED 152 million (USD 41 million) of incentives from ADIO will allow Nanoracks to build the StarLab Space Farming Center in Abu Dhabi as an AgTech\u00a0commercial space research center. The Center will be focused on advancing knowledge and technology about organisms and food that are produced in the harsh and alien environment of space. Nanoracks is seeking through innovations in space-based AgTech to solve key food sustainability challenges on Earth, mostly caused by climate change, which can help to ‘green the desert.’<\/p>\n

Allen Herbert, SVP of Business Development and Strategy, and Head of Nanoracks, UAE, said: \u201cMuch of today\u2019s technology used for vertical, urban and closed environment agriculture initially came from space research from 30 years ago, and Nanoracks is ready to synergise these technologies back to in-space exploration.\u201d<\/p>\n

A press release for the\u00a0Center shows plants growing in Nanoracks’ proposed StarLab Outpost module shown below. Nanoracks proposed this same module as a core and habitation unit for NASA’s Lunar Gateway for the NextSTEP 2 deep space habitat competition (see our\u00a0Space Habitats for Lunar Gateway<\/a>\u00a0story).<\/p>\n

\"module<\/a>

Rendering of greenhouses inside proposed StarLab Outpost. Credit: Nanoracks \/ Mack Crawford<\/p><\/div>\n

US-based Nanoracks, the single largest commercial user of the International Space Station, opened its first UAE office in Abu Dhabi\u2019s global tech ecosystem, Hub71, in 2019.<\/p>\n

References<\/h2>\n