Hello, all, we are a team of three, Prof. Dhatri Pandya, Himanshi Borad, and Devanshi Trivedi from Sarvajanik College of Engineering and Technology, and we are excited to share our idea on Plant VOC Emission for Space Habitats using an AI/ML Approach. We want to collaborate with experts and enthusiasts in this field.
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) emitted by plants are indicators of plant health and environmental stress. These compounds can serve as early biomarkers for disease, drought, radiation, and other abiotic stresses. As space agencies like NASA prepare for extended missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond, plants will become vital not only for life support (oxygen, food, water recycling) but also for psychological well-being and habitat regulation. This project aims to analyze and model plant VOC emissions under various environmental stressors—especially in space-like conditions (microgravity, radiation, elevated CO₂). The primary objective is to use machine learning models to predict the temporal pattern of VOC release in plants under stress and build a baseline for VOC signatures that can aid in early detection of plant health issues in controlled space habitats. We also plan to examine the datasets and methodologies from historical NASA projects like RASTA (2005) and integrate open-access biological datasets from NASA’s OSDR (Open Science Data Repository), which includes GeneLab and ALSDA data. These will help correlate VOC emission with transcriptomic and proteomic changes under spaceflight conditions. Ultimately, this research seeks to build AI/ML-ready VOC modeling tools that can be used for automated health diagnostics in bioregenerative life support systems aboard long-duration space missions.
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Hello @HimanshiBorad! If you and your team are able to attend the next PlantAWG meeting you should bring it up then and we can discuss. 
Sign up to present a discussion/collaboration topic here: Topic / Discussion sign-up form | Plant AWG
@dr.richard.barker @borjabarbero
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Dear Prof. Dhatri Pandya, Himanshi Borad, and Devanshi Trivedi,
Thank you so much for sharing your fascinating project on Plant VOC Emission for Space Habitats using an AI/ML Approach. I’m genuinely interested in your work, it’s a highly relevant and innovative direction, especially in the context of sustainable space exploration and bioregenerative life support systems.
Your integration of VOC analysis with AI/ML modeling, and the connection to open-access datasets like GeneLab and ALSDA, adds a powerful layer of data-driven insight to plant health diagnostics. I would love to stay connected, learn more about your progress, and explore potential ways to contribute or collaborate as your research evolves.
Wishing you all the best with your work this is an exciting contribution to the future of space habitats!
Warm regards,
Keerthana Gunaretnam
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Indeed, this would be a great conversation for the next plant AWG meeting! I am also really interested in atmospheric composition and its effect on plants in time and space. If @botanynerd If i recall, Dr Gary Stutte was the PI on the NASA RASTA PI project, i wonder if we can get him to virtually drop into a conversation at a future meeting?
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Just adding my two cents here: I know a person specializing in VOC, but she’s not a member of GeneLab (only in case you want someone like that on the team ).
The project seems super fun!
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Hello Keerthana,
It would be great to work in collaboration.
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Hi anna,
That would be great if she can join. More we get depth insights more analysis we can do using AI/ML approaches
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Hello @rachelcrivero @rtscott2001! Thank you so much for inviting us to the next meeting, we’ll surely be there. It’ll be a great conversation.
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Btw, your proposal sounds relevant to the AI Agent for Crop Lunar Biomonitoring Health Support which a group of interns are completing this summer
They will be giving a final talk to the whole AWG in September
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Dear @rtscott2001 and @rachelcrivero, When is the next PlantAWG meeting?
Is it on 12th August or 13th August according to IST datetime? Also, is there any proper data required for this topic from our side, for the discussion in the meeting?
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@HimanshiBorad The meeting is Wednesday, August 13th 11-12:30 PM Eastern Time. If I did the time zone conversion correctly, I believe that is 8:30-10:00 PM IST.
If you have any data you would like to present you absolutely can, but it is not required. Alternatively, an introductory slide about yourself, your team, and your idea is also welcome. You may keep in mind that not everyone on the group will have seen your post so a brief overview of the discussion topic and what you are hoping to gain from it (collaboration, feedback, etc.) may be beneficial. This is all very flexible and it can be whatever format you choose.
Any preference? @dr.richard.barker @borjabarbero
Also tagging @sigrid.reinsch in case this should be noted for the calendar.
Hi, is there any way I can contribute to this project?
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Hello @JahnaviS, it would be great if you’re able to join the PlantAWG meeting today where we will discuss these ideas (11-12:30 ET). 
Feel free to message me if you have any questions.
https://awg.osdr.space/t/discussion-modeling-plant-voc-emissions-for-space-habitats-using-ai-ml-approaches/3238
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Oh sorry, I did not see this. Is there some other meeting I can join or way I can communicate?
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Hello @JahnaviS! You can use the chat feature to directly connect with @HimanshiBorad or @dhatri.pandya to talk to them about their work.
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@HimanshiBoard Hi, is there any way that I can contribute to the project and learn more?