Scientists Grow Plants in Lunar Soil

[DGUtley]

Scientists Grow Plants in Lunar Soil

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In the early days of the space age, the Apollo astronauts took part in a visionary plan: Bring samples of the lunar surface material, known as regolith, back to Earth where they could be studied with state-of-the-art equipment and saved for future research not yet imagined. Fifty years later, at the dawn of the Artemis era and the next astronaut return to the Moon, three of those samples have been used to successfully grow plants. For the first time ever, researchers have grown the hardy and well-studied Arabidopsis thaliana in the nutrient-poor lunar regolith. “This research is critical to NASA’s long-term human exploration goals as we’ll need to use resources found on the Moon and Mars to develop food sources for future astronauts living and operating in deep space,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “This fundamental plant growth research is also a key example of how NASA is working to unlock agricultural innovations that could help us understand how plants might overcome stressful conditions in food-scarce areas here on Earth.”

Scientists at the University of Florida have made a breakthrough discovery — decades in the making — that could both enable space exploration and benefit humanity. “Here we are, 50 years later, completing experiments that were started back in the Apollo labs,” said Robert Ferl, a professor in the Horticultural Sciences department at the University of Florida, Gainesville, and a communicating author on a paper published on May 12, 2022, in Communications Biology. “We first asked the question of whether plants can grow in regolith. And second, how might that one day help humans have an extended stay on the Moon.”

The answer to the first question is a resounding yes. Plants can grow in lunar regolith. They were not as robust as plants grown in Earth soil, or even as those in the control group grown in a lunar simulant made from volcanic ash, but they did indeed grow. And by studying how the plants responded in the lunar samples, the team hopes to go on to answer the second question as well, paving the way for future astronauts to someday grow more nutrient-rich plants on the Moon and thrive in deep space.

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https://www.nasa.gov/feature/biologi...-from-the-moon

[Peter1469]

Adding the nutrient solution daily is the key.

[Tahuyaman]

Lunar soil does not contains the nutrients required to sustain plant life. They were able to sprout certain seeds, but they won’t live very long.

[Peter1469]

Lunar soil does not contains the nutrients required to sustain plant life. They were able to sprout certain seeds, but they won’t live very long.

Add nutrients - the article mentions they did that every day.

[Tahuyaman]

Add nutrients - the article mentions they did that every day.

You often need to add nutrients to earth’s soil. While sprouting seeds in lunar soil may be a cool experiment, it’s not going to result in anything that solves any argricujtutral problems.

[Peter1469]

You often need to add nutrients to earth’s soil. While sprouting seeds in lunar soil may be a cool experiment, it’s not going to result in anything that solves any argricujtutral problems.

Not on earth. That isn't what they are doing the experiments for.

[jigglepete]

This story is interesting, I agree with Peter as to the daily nutrients, just like growing hydroponically, the medium (moon dirt in this case) is basically to give the plant's roots a place to go and hold the plant up. And T is also correct as very few non-soil mediums provide anything for the plants besides a place to be while waiting for the nutrients to be provided.

As a side note every seed has enough natural nutrients to provide enough energy to start (until the "true" leaves come out).

[Tahuyaman]

Not on earth. That isn't what they are doing the experiments for.

I think I know why they are doing it. There’s not going to be any way that the moon can ever become an agricultural area. It’s not going to happen. Certain things will always be beyond our capabilities.

[Peter1469]

I think I know why they are doing it. There’s not going to be any way that the moon can ever become an agricultural area. It’s not going to happen. Certain things will always be beyond our capabilities.

I don't believe that.

[RMNIXON]

Don't expect any plants growing on the Moon with no atmosphere and unfiltered radiation from the Sun.

Still this is interesting..............