Is it possible to grow plants on lunar land? This play on words was confirmed a few weeks ago when, for the first time a group of scientists from the University of Miami showed the results obtained after sowing seeds in a substrate of regolith, the main component of the lunar surface material.
The experiment “began” nearly 5 decades ago when astronauts from the Apollo 11, 12 and 17 missions returned with dust samples from the satellite. Nearly 50 years later, the POT agreed to share it with Rob Ferl, a researcher specializing in horticulture who is a professor at the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences of the University of Florida.
Of course, he did not make it easy for him: he sent him just 12 grams of regolith to be used to grow seeds and obtain seedlings of Arabidopsis thalianawhich they chose as it is one of the most used vegetables in scientific experiments given its short life cycle and its genome has been known for years.
This experiment should just have been more than simple: it consisted only of preparing the pot, planting the seeds, adding water, nutrients and light and see what happened. However, it was not easy, especially since there was so little substrate and it was on loan because it was extremely valuable. To such an extent that 11 years elapsed before NASA accepted the proposal made by the University of Florida to carry out the test.
SUCCESS
The first results were relatively satisfactory. Specifically, the Arabidopsis managed to germinate and grow in such strange soil. However, the scientists found several significant differences when comparing these plants with the control ones. For now, those that germinated in the lunar “land” took longer to grow and had significant variations in size. In addition, when analyzing them chemically, they found that they had signs of having undergone strong stress in the process.
Why did NASA accept the experiment after keeping the samples for decades? The reason is that in the next five years it plans to advance the Artemis Project whose objective is to put astronauts back in the moon and prepare what is necessary to develop some kind of base with stable personnel.
To be able to succeed in these missions and talso on marsone of the keys is to consume food fresh possibly grown “in situ”. For that, it is necessary to know if the basic raw material of the substrate can work if the nutrients are added or if it will also have to be sent from the ground.
This first experiment seems to show that, in principle, it is possible. However, the tests are just beginning and questions such as what happens when grow on alien soil, something that is totally outside the evolutionary experience of plants? How would they behave in a lunar greenhouse? Now we have the first positive response.
