WAPS PD (Water Across Plants System - Payload Development)

The WAPS PD project is a part of an investigation called Water Across Plants. Water Across Plants is a space biology experiment which will investigate plant growth under reduced gravity conditions and in particular the water movement in, across and out of the plant.

The WAPS PD project will deliver the Experiment Containers to be used in this project. The experiment will be performed in an incubator called BIOLAB installed onboard the European module Columbus on the International Space Station.

The WAPS Experiment Containers (WAPS EC) will be equipped with an Observation System (composed of colour and thermal camera), Hydration System, Illumination system and an environmental sensor module consisting of CO₂, O₂, temperature and humidity sensors.

CIRiS is the prime contractor for this project and is responsible for the overall mechanical design, testing and verification of the equipment before launch. In addition, the CIRiS team will give real time support during operations onboard the space station. EIDEL (Eidsvoll Electronics AS) is the subcontractor responsible for electronics and software. NTNU Mechanical workshop is involved in the mechanical design and is responsible for the manufacturing of the hardware.