SyNRGE Advances Space Crop Production Through NASA-Supported Vertical Garden Research

Exploration Park, FL — SyNRGE, LLC is helping to advance sustainable food production for future Moon and Mars missions through its participation in a three-year NASA-funded project led by the University of North Dakota (UND). Central to the effort is an experimental Vertical Garden designed with support from SyNRGE and constructed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to evaluate crop production using water and nutrients recovered from wastewater streams.

The Vertical Garden serves as the crop-production testbed for the Bioregenerative Wastewater Treatment for Exploration Resource Recovery (BioWaTERR) Facility, an 8.5-by-24-foot mobile laboratory developed to transform waste into resources for future planetary habitats. The system integrates biological wastewater treatment technologies with controlled-environment crop production, creating a closed-loop platform for evaluating how future explorers may recycle resources to produce fresh food while living on the Moon or Mars.

The Vertical Garden contains three independently controlled growing levels, each supplied by separate nutrient reservoirs that allow researchers to compare conventional hydroponic nutrient solutions with nutrient streams recovered from wastewater treatment processes. The system was specifically designed to evaluate crop growth, nutrient recovery efficiency, and operational performance under conditions relevant to future lunar and Martian habitats. The May 2026 transfer of the BioWaTERR facility to UND and its integration with the Integrated Lunar/Martian Analog Habitat (ILMAH) marks the beginning of operational testing in a realistic exploration analog environment.

SyNRGE founder and president Dr. Gary W. Stutte serves as a co-investigator on the project and has supported the development of crop-production requirements, experimental protocols, nutrient-solution evaluation strategies, and plant-growth analysis methodologies. SyNRGE continues to assist the UND research team with system operations, troubleshooting crop responses, and interpretation of data generated from the Vertical Garden.

The research team is led by Dr. Ali Alshami of the University of North Dakota, whose group is developing advanced membrane technologies to improve nutrient recovery and water reuse. Dr. Luke Roberson and his team at NASA Kennedy Space Center developed the deployable BioWaTERR facility as part of NASA’s effort to create sustainable infrastructure for future lunar and Martian bases.

“Future exploration missions will require more than water recycling alone. We must develop systems that convert waste into resources and resources into food. The Vertical Garden provides a practical way to evaluate how recovered nutrients can support crop production and help close the biological loop required for long-duration habitation beyond Earth.”

— Dr. Gary W. Stutte, Founder & President, SyNRGE LLC

The project reflects a growing recognition that biological systems will play a central role in future exploration. Plants, microbes, and biological treatment technologies can help recycle resources, produce food, regenerate air and water, and reduce the need for costly resupply missions from Earth. The same technologies also have potential applications for water conservation, sustainable agriculture, and resource recovery here on Earth.

The project was highlighted by both the University of North Dakota and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center following deployment of the BioWaTERR facility to UND’s Integrated Lunar/Martian Analog Habitat in June 2026.

For SyNRGE, the work directly supports the company’s mission:

Growing Plants in Space – Feeding People on Earth.

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