Seeds taken up to the Moon by China's Chang'e-4 mission have sprouted, says China National Space Administration. It marks the first time any biological matter has grown on the Moon, and is being seen as a significant step towards long-term space exploration.
Plants have been grown on the International Space Station before but never on the Moon. The Chinese Moon lander was carrying among its cargo soil containing cotton and potato seeds, yeast and fruit fly eggs. The plants are in a sealed container on board the lander. The crops will try to form a mini biosphere - an artificial, self-sustaining environment.
The lunar mini biosphere experiment on the Chang'e-4 lander is designed to test photosynthesis and respiration - processes in living organisms that result in the production of energy. The whole experiment is contained within an 18cm tall, 3kg canister that was designed by 28 Chinese universities.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-46873526
Of all the cotton-pickin......
ReplyDelete...no really, cotton? I guess there could be scientific reasons but it's such a damn colonial plant and cotton fibres are probably easier to replace with synthetics than.... any food crops, for instance.
Cotton. Hm.
They took potatoes too.
ReplyDeleteGarlic should be the next thing they try. Put a bulb of garlic in the fridge and forget about it for months. The damn thing still grows new shoots. It's in a cold, dark, dry environment that gets a glimpse of artificial light for <1hr a day.
ReplyDeleteRhys Taylor They sprout on my fridge. Why not on the moon?
ReplyDelete