First time in history scientists grow plants in soil from the moon

Plants have been grown on lunar soil for the first time in human history, reflecting a watershed moment in lunar science and exploration.

University of Florida researchers demonstrated that plants can sprout and develop on lunar soil in a research report published in the journal “Communications Biology.” Their research also looked into how plants react biologically to the soil on the moon, known as lunar regolith, which is very different from the soil on Earth.

This research is the first step toward one-day growing plants on the moon or during space missions for food and oxygen. This research comes at a time when the Artemis Program is planning to return humans to the moon.

Bill Nelson, head of the US space agency, said: “This research is important for NASA’s long-term research goals. We will need to use the resources available on the moon and Mars to provide food for future astronauts to stay in space and work. ”

“A better understanding of how to grow plants in space will be required for Artemis,” stated Rob Ferl, a renowned professor of horticultural sciences at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS).

Plants were significant even in the early days of lunar exploration, according to Anna-Lisa Paul, one of the study’s authors and a research professor of horticultural sciences at UF/IFAS.

According to Anna-Lisa Paul, a research professor of horticultural sciences at UF/IFAS and one of the study’s authors, plants were significant even in the early days of lunar exploration.

“Plants helped establish that the soil samples sent back from the moon did not include diseases or other unknown components that could affect terrestrial life,” Paul stated.

Paul and Ferl are world-renowned experts in plant research in space. They’ve sent research on outer space, to the International Space Station, and on suborbital missions through the UF Space Botany Lab.

“We may use the moon as a hub or launchpad for future, longer space expeditions.” “It makes obvious that we would want to grow plants in the soil that is already there,” Ferl explained. “What happens if you grow plants in lunar dirt, which is completely alien to a plant’s evolutionary experience?” In a lunar greenhouse, what would plants do? Could we have farmers on the moon?”

Ferl and Paul devised a deceptively easy experiment to begin answering these questions: plant seeds in lunar soil, add water, nutrients, and light, and record the outcomes.

The problem was that the scientists only had 12 grammes of lunar dirt — just a few teaspoons — to work with. This soil was gathered on loan from NASA.

Paul and Ferl had to devise a small scale, carefully coordinated experiment owing to tiny amount of soil and its enormous historical and scientific value. The researchers used thimble-sized wells in plastic plates generally used to culture cells to produce their microscopic lunar garden. Each well served as a container. The scientists hydrated the soil with something like a fertiliser solution and added a few seeds from the Arabidopsis plant after filling each “pot” with around a gramme of lunar soil.

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