Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without soil, instead using mineral nutrient solutions in a water solvent. Some key advantages of hydroponic cultivation include excellent use of genetic plant potential, better nutrient control, increased yields, shorter growth times, more efficient use of space, and significant water and fertilizer savings. Hydroponics also allows food production in extreme environments with poor soil or water scarcity. Careful control of water, nutrients, and oxygen is required for optimal plant growth through hydroponics.

1. HYDROPONIC CULTIVATION
Hydroponics is the art of growing plants in water. The word comes from the greek "hydro =
water" and "ponos = work". This concept was rediscovered in 1930 at the University of
Berkeley, California, but in effect, only recently this method is in use.
We have all heard of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the people who live in the
mountains around Lake Titicaca in Peru and Mianmar, who cultivate their gardens on the
surface of the water, with materials like straw, or layers
of water hyacinths or any local substrate. In
hydroponics, as in these mountain lakes, the plants
living on the water with their roots hanging in the flow of
a nutrient solution.
Although plants such as rice, water lilies or carnivorous
plants can adapt well in poorly oxygenated, or even
stagnant, most have difficulty adjusting to the lack of
oxygen.
Indeed, if a plant lacks oxygen in the root zone, even if
it is sufficiently wet, it dies of asphyxiation: indeed a
recurring cause of death of aquatic plants is due to the
excessive amount of water to wet them. This is what
often happens with hydro culture (not to be confused
with hydroponics), a method of growth with perforated
basket suspended in a nutrient solution “sleeping”.
Therefore, the plants can grow in water, but not in all
conditions. The water should be "living". Be aware that,
whatever the environment they live in, is the ground, air or
water, plants absorb their food in the form of dissolved ions in
oxygen. The food and oxygen that are absorbed by plants
grown in water must be replaced periodically. This is the
function of 'hydroponics, a method of growing without soil
which stimulates plant growth and controls the amount of
water, minerals, and most importantly of all, the dissolved
oxygen. The basic idea is very simple.
When the roots are suspended in the water in motion, they
absorb food and oxygen rapidly. If the oxygen content is low,
plant growth will be slow. But if the solution is saturated with
oxygen, plant growth will accelerate. The purpose of those
who use hydroponics is
to balance the
combination of water,
nutrients and oxygen,
according to the needs of plants to maximize production
and quality.
HYDROPONICS. WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF THIS METHOD?
The hydroponics can be used by a large group of people:
those who love plants, the professional plant collectors,
farmers large and small greenhouses, horticultural societies, research centers etc.. The main
advantages of this method of cultivation are:
o excellent use of the genetic potential of plants
o better control of their nutrition
o visible improvement in the quantity and production
o significant shortening of the time of growth for many plants

2. o more efficient use of space
o great saving of water (given its increasing scarcity)
o great saving of fertilizer
o possibility of cultivation even in extreme environments.
The hydroponics has been and is still used for research purposes. Over the past 50 years has
been used in research centres for its reliability, accuracy and wide range of applications.
Of course like all things the hydroponics can have good or bad results, according to people who
use it and their objectives:
if misused can produce such as tomatoes with little taste or fragrance-free roses. But when
used properly can produce plants with improved nutritional characteristics, flavour and taste
great.
The hydroponics can pollute when used with not suitable substrate materials or without a
water control systems. But used in structures to enable them to grow in a closed cycle
(without waste water) and under confinement can give food to a large portion of the
population of the planet in an environmentally responsible way and allow the peoples of the
Third World to feed, even if the soil is poor and water is scarce.
Hydroponic production is not
organic production. The mere fact
that the plants are grown without
soil prevents that name. Similarly
for fertilizers.
There isn’t now a completely
organic fertilizer for hydroponics.
But it is certain that there are
fertilizers made in a targeted
manner that does not leave heavy
metals in the soil, or toxic agents.
In some regions of the world's third
groups of volunteers are teaching
people to use hydroponics to
produce fertilizers and waste from
their household. In the U.S. for
more than 25 years was used for
this type of crop production for
small balconies, patios, rooms and apartments. You can have mini-modules of flat modules or
larger if you have a garden.
A common mistake is to think that, if the plants have enough water, can be left alone without
controls. In fact, their metabolism speeded up requires more attention. The hydroponics is not
done to save time and maintenance, but rather to maximize results.
AERO SEKUR & HYDROPONIC
Aero Sekur has approached the world of hydroponics in 2004.
Obviously, for a crop so versatile there is nothing better than flexible structures and especially
inflatable. So in 2005 Aero Sekur began to collaborate with the University of Arizona on a
prototype of a greenhouse to an extreme environment.
While in the global context of space exploration was taking shape seriously the need to build a
greenhouse for long-term missions, Aerosekur was taking its first steps to learn how to apply
the technology of hydroponics in a confined environment.

3. With workshops Sperlonga Agrospace 2006,
Sperlonga Agrospace 2008 and Sperlonga
Agrospace 2010, Aero Sekur has set as a
primary objective to create a meeting point for
researchers who work in space, and those working
with the agriculture enviroment, in order to
together to address the issue of cultivation in
hydroponics and extreme environment, a theme
dear to both sectors.
Our ultimate goal is to be able to create an
autonomous and simple system that it can be
used by everyone.
During this last workshop was staged in the
sacristy of the Church of S. Maria in Sperlonga a new inflatable greenhouse with asymmetric
geometry, with the most advanced
environmental control systems (air-
filtering water), lighting (LED) and of
course replenishing nutrients
controlling irrigation cycles.
Aero Sekur greenhouse
Agrospace Sperlonga 2010
Not only.
We have presented a project of a Swedish student Mathilda Hopstadius who prepared his
thesis on Aerosekur. This thesis was to study the feasibility and implementation of a prototype
greenhouse balcony.
The object created is very simple: it is equipped with a pump that delivers water and nutrients
from a tray at the base of the greenhouse up to the highest point from where it falls cascade.
With this system we can grow in parallel you can use different herbs in the kitchen, without a
large consumption of water and energy.
EPO GREENHOUSE EXPERIMENT
In 2010 we worked in collaboration with ESA for the construction and installation of two Mini-
Greenhouse for cultivation in orbit.
The greenhouses have been launched from Baikonur in Russia in January 2011 and remained
on board the ISS available for the astronaut Paolo Nespoli, for cultivation of Arabidopsis and
lettuce from seed experiments.

4. The experiment was followed by about 1000 students in European schools. The boys have
conducted the same experiment by monitoring crop
growth parameters of plants on Earth to compare
them with those recorded in the space.
The decision to conduct experiments in this direction
was inspired by the need increasingly in the
international arena of objects that can enable the
production of vegetable crops to be given to
astronauts during long-duration missions.
The Mini-Greenhouse
A greenhouse in orbit, not only could provide fresh vegetables for astronauts, but allow them
in some way to "distract" from the routine daily activities devoted to agricultural production,
outside of their primary education. This activity will provide, among other things, valuable
information about the requirements and difficulties that the astronauts of the future may have
in managing a system's largest greenhouses.
The project goal is to get new seeds from plants
grown in order to develop a procedure able to
guarantee a regular and continuous production of
food crops.
La Mini-Greenhouse with the first bud
The Mini-Greenhouse with letture plant