Researchers Grew Tiny Plants in Moon Dirt Collected Decades Ago

The moon landing missions that brought back lunar material were not the same as what Paul and Ferl attempted. The new research by Paul and Ferl is more ambitious. This is the first time, and it's why we're excited.

NASA doesn't have a lot of regolith left to give to scientists, but they have been handing it out for high priority research. The regolith in the Apollo 17 landing area was studied by the agency in 1972, and they recently opened up one of the last samples. The agency expects many more samples to come since astronauts will return to the moon in a few years.

Learning how to grow food off-planet will be important, since every gram transported to space takes up room on a craft and adds to its costs and fuel requirements. Even if it isn't providing a lot of food, a little greenery can go a long way for the mental health of the crew.

The International Space Station has begun testing different ways to grow food. Paul and Ferl's research could be an important step towards space farming. Kevin Cannon, a geology and space resources researcher at the Colorado School of Mines, was not involved in the paper. Cannon says it is possible that growing plants and vegetables without using dirt could be more efficient than growing them in a reactor.

Traveling to Mars will require long trips. Since the planet is so far away, it will be more difficult to ship food supplies, which might make it a better place to grow crops on a larger scale. When NASA returns samples from the Perseverance Mars rover mission, they could give researchers a chance to experiment with the real thing. If it works, a Mark Watney-like astronomer could one day grow potatoes on the Red Planet, but not until someone works out ways to help Earth plants thrive, instead of just survive in space regolith.

Paul and her colleagues think that space gardening will be in our future. That is symbolic to me. She says that when we leave Earth, we will take plants with us.