CubeSat-life ground test facility: Ground facility to simulate a CubeSat environment for the cultivation of ideotype tomato plants

This paper is aimed at demonstrating the possibility of growing a tomato ideotype, fortified in anti-oxidant content (derived from Micro-Tom, a model cultivar for tomato research overexpressing anthocyanins) and specifically developed for spatial environment, in a seed-to-seed cycle (70-90 days) on a CubeSat. To reach this goal, a dedicated micro satellite equivalent to 12 U will be developed to be sent into low-orbit. Growing plants in space is a prerequisite to sustain long-term human exploration of the solar system. Plants can increase the independence of a space mission providing astronauts with food, oxygen, waste recycling, water purification increasing quality of life. Preliminary experimental results to simulate the low orbit conditions are here described, together with all the devices used during the test activities.