NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

OMEGA Gas Exchange Column

NASA OMEGA engineers discuss the function of the gas exchange column used to remove oxygen and add carbon dioxide to the floating algae growth tubes (fore-ground). The tubes, made of flexible clear plastic, contain algae growing in wastewater. The tubes float in seawater, which keeps the algae cultures from overheating. Also, if the freshwater algae growing on wastewater escape into the seawater they die, which when the system is deployed in coastal water would prevent the cultivated algae from becoming invasive species.