Australian scientists have launched a project to develop an "agricultural colony" on the moon by 2025.
Australian scientists want to try to grow plants on the moon by 2025 as part of a new mission announced Friday to develop a colony on its surface.
"This project is the first step toward growing plants to provide food, medicine, and oxygen, all of which are necessary to establish human life on the moon," the researchers said.
Queensland University of Technology plant biologist Brett Williams explained that the seeds will be flown by the Beresheet 2 spacecraft as part of a particular Israeli space mission.
Once planted on the moon, the seeds will be irrigated in a closed room while scientists watch for any signs of germination.
Plant species will be selected based on their ability to withstand extreme weather conditions and their speed of germination.
Australian National University professor Caitlin Burt said that in addition to this goal, the mission may also serve as a laboratory to find solutions to food security problems caused by a warming climate.
"If we can create a system for growing plants on the Moon, we will be able to create a system for growing food products in some of the harshest environments on Earth."
Lunaria One, including Australian and Israeli scientists, is running the project.
------ They planted plants in the moon's soil and grew. A study that exploded a surprise
For the first time, scientists have grown plants in lunar soil collected by NASA's Apollo astronauts.
Scientists were stunned by the results, published in the journal Communications Biology on Thursday. They had no idea if anything would grow in the hard moon's dust.
cress seedling
Robert Ferrell of the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences explained that he and his colleagues planted cress seeds in the lunar soil that Neil Armstrong brought back from Apollo 11, as well as Buzz Aldrin and other lunar walkers years ago, where the seeds sprouted.
In contrast, the researchers pointed out that the only downside to this study occurred after the first week when the roughness and other characteristics of the lunar soil pressured the small-flowered weeds to the point that they grew more slowly than those grown in mounds of earth.
According to what was reported by the newspaper "The Guardian," most of the moon plants ended up stunted, noting that the plants were poor in the soil that was more exposed to cosmic radiation and the solar wind on the moon.
Real step
"This is a huge step forward for knowing that you can grow plants," said Simon Gilroy, an aerospace plant biologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who was not involved in the study. "The next real step is to go and do it on the moon," he said.
Notably, lunar dust is filled with tiny glass shards from micrometeorite impacts that reached everywhere in the Apollo lunar landers and donned pedestrian spacesuits on the lunar surface.
Scientists explain that one solution to finding cultivable soil is using younger moon geological spots, such as lava flows.
They also pointed out the possibility of modifying the agricultural environment by changing the mixture of nutrients or adjusting artificial lighting.
It is noteworthy that NASA distributed 12 grams of moon dust to researchers at the University of Florida early last year, and the long-awaited cultivation took place in a laboratory last May.
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