Scientists grow plants in lunar dirt, next stop moon

Scientists have grown plants in soil from the moon for the first time.

Researchers had no idea if the harsh moon dirt could be used to grow food, so they wanted to see if it could be used to grow food for the next generation of explorers. They were shocked by the results.

Holy cow. Plants grow in the moon. Robert Ferl of the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences was incredulous.

The thale cress was planted by Ferl and his colleagues in the moon soil. All of the seeds sprouted.

The weeds were stressed so much by the lunar soil's coarseness that they grew more slowly than the fake moon dirt. The plants on the moon were not growing well.

The results were published Thursday.

Plants seemed to do worse when the soil was exposed to punishing radiation and solar wind. The Apollo 11 samples exposed a couple billion years longer to the elements because of the Sea of Tranquility's older surface.

Simon Gilroy, a space plant Biologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who had no role in the study, said that it was a big step forward to know that you can grow plants.

The Apollo lunar landers wore down their spacesuits with the tiny glass fragments from micrometeorite impacts.

Younger geologic spots on the moon could be used to dig up planting soil. The environment could be changed, altered or adjusted.

Six Apollo crews brought back 842 pounds of moon rocks and soil. After the Apollo astronauts returned from the moon, some of the earliest moon dust was sprinkled on plants.

Most of the lunar treasure was locked away, forcing researchers to use volcanic ash on Earth as a simulation of lunar soil. NASA gave the University of Florida 12 grams early last year, and the long-awaited planting took place in a lab last May.

The space agency said that the right time was for the experiment to be carried out, with the goal of putting astronauts back on the moon in a few years.

The ideal situation would be for future astronauts to tap into the endless supply of available local dirt for indoor planting instead of setting up a Hydroponic system.

The fact that anything grew means that we have a good starting point, and now the question is how to improve.

The Florida scientists hope to recycle their lunar soil later this year, planting more thale cress before moving on to other vegetation.

More information: Anna-Lisa Paul, Plants grown in Apollo lunar regolith present stress-associated transcriptomes that inform prospects for lunar exploration, Communications Biology (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-03334-8. www.nature.com/articles/s42003-022-03334-8 Journal information: Communications Biology

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