Scientists Take, Giant First Step , Toward Lunar Farming.
'Time' reports that NASA's Artemis program aims to return American astronauts to the moon and establish permanent lunar bases.
'Time' reports that NASA's Artemis program aims to return American astronauts to the moon and establish permanent lunar bases.
This means they must use the moon's soil, referred to as regolith, as a medium to grow crops in lunar greenhouses.
With NASA prepping themselves to go back to the moon for longer excursions, it became much more relevant that we understand how resources that are in situ on the moon can be used to further exploration, Anna-Lisa Paul, horticulturist and lead author of the paper, via 'Time'.
According to a new study published in 'Communications Biology,' scientists have successfully grown crops in lunar soil for the first time.
The research was carried out at the University of Florida by a team of two horticulturalists and one geologist.
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The plants grown in lunar soil were smaller and developed more slowly than control plants grown in terrestrial volcanic soil.
The results led the team to suggest that the age of the soil plays a crucial role in determining the success of crops.
What we found was that the regoliths that were more mature were indeed more toxic to the plants, or at least they presented a more toxic response, Anna-Lisa Paul, horticulturist and lead author of the paper, via 'Time'.
What we could simply do in the absence of other constraining factors, is land and establish a habitat on a lunar surface that is significantly younger than the Apollo 11, 12, and 17 sites, Stephen Elardo, geologist and co-author, via 'Time'
