Will it be possible to grow plants on the moon?
So far, they have been grown in lunar soil samples at the University of Florida.
Even for scientists, this was a surprise, says Robert Ferl, a scientist at the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Florida.
“The first message was: “How wonderful! Plants can grow on lunar soil. In addition, we have now learned that there are some things that we must know and be able to do better if we want to cultivate.”
The experiment was conducted by scientists from the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Florida.on lunar soil brought to Earth by Neil Armstrong and his team during the Apollo 11 mission more than 50 years ago.
Biologist and geneticist Anna-Lisa Paul explains: “During the first week of life, there really was no difference between the control and lunar plants. All we need to do is figure out how to mitigate the negative effects.”
**A year ago. Several mini-capsules of watercress seeds were placed in a gram of lunar soil.** Although the researchers found that the shoots grew more slowly and with stunted roots, the results were considered encouraging.
Geologist Steven Elardo says: “This was the first step in what we hope will be a very long, decades-long process of discovering this material, and when we get back to the Moon, we will do it on the lunar surface.
The ability to grow food on the moon will be a giant step forward for future astronaut missions. The study is relevant to NASA, which is preparing for manned and robotic exploration of the moon as part of the missions under the Artemis program.
“This investigation is critical to NASA’s long-term human exploration goals,” said Bill Nelson, head of the US space agency. “We will have to use the resources found on the Moon and Mars to develop food sources for future astronauts who will live in deep space.”
For your experience, The researchers used just 12 grams of lunar soil (or a few teaspoons) collected from various locations on the Moon during the Apollo missions..
In small thimble-sized pots, about a gram of soil—regolith—was placed at a time, water was added, and then seeds. Nutrient solution was also added daily.
In the same time, the seeds were planted in the soil of our own Earth and samples of the lunar and Martian soil for comparison.
After two days, the seeds of the lunar samples germinated.
“All plants in both the lunar soil samples and the controls looked the same on day six,” said Anna-Lisa Pohl, lead author of the study.
But after that, it turned out that lunar plants grow more slowly and have stunted roots.
After 20 days, scientists collected them and studied the DNA. They found that plants on the Moon reacted the same way they would in a hostile environment, such as soil with too much salt or heavy metals.
In the future, scientists want to understand how this environment can be made more welcoming.
These are the first experiments to study whether plants can grow on lunar soil and the subsequent 11-year effort to obtain the rare material. Because soil is so valuable, NASA only loaned 12 grams of soil to the testers.
Scientists have long wondered if the moon could host a harvest, but now that space agencies are planning to bring humans back to the surface and possibly building lunar settlements for visitors, the question has become more pressing.
