Scientists from the University of Florida have achieved a new major achievement in terms of lunar and space exploration in general. Scientists have managed to grow plants in lunar soil for the first time, using samples that had been collected from the moon years ago. The experiment, however, took place on Earth.
Lunar soil samples were sent to Earth during the Apollo missions, with the aim of studying them with state-of -the-art and using them for future research.
See also: China: There was water on Mars much more recently than we thought
“In a new paper published in the journalCommunications Biology, University of Florida researchers have shown that plants can successfully germinate and grow in soil from the moon,” the university says. “Their study also explored how plants respond biologically to the Moon’s soil, also known as lunar regolith, a soil that is radically different from the soil found on Earth.”
According to the researchers, the experiment was no easy feat. The University of Florida says its researchers asked NASA for this soil three times over the course of 11 years. In the end, they received “12 grams—just a few teaspoons” of lunar soil with which to conduct this experiment. That meant they could only fill a few “thimmersive-sized containers in plastic plates typically used for cell culture.”
See also: Astronomers reveal first image of black hole in our galaxy
Plants did grow in these small “pots” of lunar soil with water, essential nutrients, and sunlight. However, scientists note that the plants didn’t exactly thrive in this alien soil. According to the report, some of the plants grown on lunar soil were smaller, grew more slowly, or had more variation in size than their counterparts grown in Earthly conditions.
The aim of the study was to determine whether it is viable to grow plants on the authentic lunar soil rather than on a simulated one. The findings, according to the scientists, show that lunar 'soil' can be used to grow plants, but it does not support their growth as well as Earth's volcanic soil.
“Our results show that plant growth is challenging; plants in lunar regolith were slow to grow and many exhibited severe stress morphologies,” the researchers write in paper .
See also: NASA's Webb Space Telescope: First images prepare us for great discoveries
This experiment shows that scientists are eager to learn more about how Earth can grow in lunar soil. Hopefully, more evidence will soon be available to test, and scientists will be able to obtain larger soil samples to work with.
Growing plants on lunar soil is an important step towards future cultivation on the Moon (this particular experiment was conducted on Earth), which will support future manned space missions to planet .
Source: www.pcmag.com
