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  • Author Author: Catwell
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Cotton seeds sprouted on the moon, then stop growing

Catwell

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(Image Credit: China National Space Administration/Xinhua News Agency/AP)

 

It didn’t last long. Bitter cold and a long night ended the plant’s growth. Day and night cycles on the moon are around two weeks long each. The plant sprouted and grew for almost two weeks. In the “nighttime” the temperatures are down to -170 degrees C. On the positive side, 120 degrees C, in the “daytime.” That’s too bad. It’s a shame they didn’t try to continue the growth with a heat source and lamp.

 

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(Image Credit: China National Space Administration/Xinhua News Agency/AP)


Plants have been known to grow on the International Space Station, but never on the moon before. The cottonseed sprouts could be a starting point for long-term space exploration and a lunar base. It would be beneficial to astronauts because they wouldn't have to go back to earth to gather resources again, but can harvest their own food in space.

 

Chang'e 4, a probe by China's National Space Administration touched down on the moon's far side on January 3rd, carrying soil with cotton and potato seeds, yeast and fruit fly eggs. It's the first time the far side is being explored by any space agency. Chang'e 4 is a combination of lunar lander and rover package that is expected to remain operational for a full year. The probe is also carrying instruments to study the region's geological area by measuring the chemical composition of lunar rocks and soil, determining the surface temperature and doing some astronomical studies via a low-frequency radio telescope, studying cosmic rays and watching the solar corona and the effect is has on earth.

 

The moon is also host to rich minerals and isotopes that could be put to use in the future, like helium-3 which could be very efficient for fusion if developments advance for this technology.

 

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China's lunar lander as seen on January 11. (Image Credit: China National Space Administration/Xinhua News Agency/AP)

 

The biosphere experiment on the probe is meant to test photosynthesis and respiration - processes in organisms that create energy. The entire experiment is held in an 18cm canister, weighing 3kg. It was developed by 28 Chinese universities. Organisms are supplied with air, water and nutrients that help them grow. However, it's challenging to keep the temperatures at a sustainable level for growth because the temperatures can change drastically from -173C to 100C or higher. The humidity levels and nutrients also have to be controlled. Some have brought up concerns about the experiment contaminating the moon with biological material, but this isn't something to worry about. Especially when there are already containers of human waste on the moon from the Apollo mission.

 

Learning about how these plants grow and develop in a low-gravity environment will also help to lay the foundation for a lunar base in the future. Cotton could eventually be used for clothing while potatoes would be a food source for astronauts and the rapeseed could be used for oil. The seeds were kept dormant using biological technology during the voyage from earth to the moon.  The seeds started growing into sprouts when command center sent a command to water the seeds.

 

Have a story tip? Message me at: cabe(at)element14(dot)com

http://twitter.com/Cabe_Atwell

  • in reply to Catwell

    Cabe,

     

    Well, I would never say never. It is always amazing to me what can be achieved when you put your mind to it. Maybe a big helium balloon to get a launch platform into the stratosphere and then some sort of rocket to get to the moon. I wonder who you would have to get permission from to do that?

     

    Dubbie

  • in reply to dubbie

    I was expecting someone to attempt a lunar visit. Especially with the Google Lunar XPrize. See this link about it....

     

    Here is what I would like to see instead... Some government or company place thousands of RC rovers on the moon and let anyone control them. After that, people could explore the surface.

    Getting a rover off Earth and onto the moon would most likely be outside most people's budget.

  • Maybe we could do an Element14 goes to the moon challenge. Or perhaps just into the stratosphere, or more realistically, just slightly higher than the roof of my house. I was once involved in a small project to measure the acceleration and de-acceleration of a water powered rocket. It might be fun to do something like that again. It was in the early days of solid state accelerometers and used a PIC to record the data which it would then transfer to MATLAB and plot the acceleration graph. I'm sure we could do something as exciting with newer accelerometers and Arduinos. I've still got one of those rockets - I wonder if it still works?

    Dubbie