A 22-year-old BSc Product Design student at Nottingham Trent University has developed a new system for growing plants that requires no soil and minimal water. Utilizing NASA technology, Nikian Aghababaie, a fourth-year student in the School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment, believes this plant growing kit could assist those in developing nations by offering an alternative source of income, in addition to combatting hunger.
 
“I’ve always had quite an interest in humanitarian design and knew I wanted to do something impactful for my final major project, but as for finding aeroponics, it was a bit of an accident,” said Mr. Aghababaie.
 
Aeroponics refers to the process of growing plants in an air or mist environment without the use of soil or other aggregate materials.
 
Mr. Aghababaie first came across this technology through a colleague while working as a drone designer in San Francisco. “After I looked into the field, I realized the statistical benefits were huge for agricultural water usage and naturally saw its potential for developing nations,” he explained.
 
The kit Mr. Aghababaie developed works by suspending seedlings or cuttings mid-air in a growing chamber. Utilizing local materials, the roots are sprayed regularly with a diluted nutrient solution through pierced recycled plastic water bottles, allowing for increased oxygen circulation around the roots, promoting rapid growth.
 
“I discovered a simple hydroponic fertilizer online which is simply made from locally sourced seaweed and a pinch of epsom (bath) salt,” noted Mr. Aghababaie. He explained that this solution worked well as the kit was designed for the Lobitos region of Peru, which is abundant in these natural resources. However, initial testing used store-bought hydroponic fertilizer. 
 
The simple, sustainable materials that make up the grow kit were intended to be affordable, abundant, and convenient. “It was important to me to design an affordable product, which communities can make themselves, maintain, and adopt,” he said.
 
Aeroponics in Action
Mr. Aghababaie researched 30 years of NASA papers, and interviewed nine industry leading professionals in an attempt to simplify NASA’s existing platform, which astronauts use to grow fruits and vegetables at the International Space Station.
 
His efforts aimed to simplify the expensive existing technology to create something new that could be introduced at a low price point to help alleviate hunger and malnutrition in impoverished communities.
 
Mr. Aghababaie partnered with EcoSwell, a charity based in the Lobitos District of Peru, to see how the community interacted with his prototype. Part of their mission was to educate the community, and encourage people to grow their own food.
 
Furthermore, Mr. Aghababaie suggested that if the technology catches on then it could help locals to earn a living by selling their crops. “Communities can research gaps in the market to see if they can grow produce that is unique to the area, which they can then sell at higher prices and potentially make a profit from,” Mr. Aghababaie said.
 
Future Goals
Looking ahead, Mr. Aghababaie is working with local teachers in Lobitos to introduce the technology to school children. He aims to teach them simple ways to grow their own food, and hopefully inspire the next generation to explore the world of agricultural technology.
 
In addition, he’s working to adapt his prototype for larger scale productions. While his system has worked well so far with growing basil from seeds, and growing transplanted 2-week-old pre-germinated lettuce and kale from soil, Mr. Aghababaie is eager to explore the further possibilities of his system.