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Giant Leaf For Mankind? China Germinates First Seed on Moon (theguardian.com)

Posted by msmash on from the marching-forward dept.

A small green shoot is growing on the moon after a cotton seed germinated onboard a Chinese lunar lander, scientists said. From a report: The sprout has emerged from a lattice-like structure inside a canister after the Chang'e 4 lander touched down earlier this month, according to a series of photos released by the Advanced Technology Research Institute at Chongqing University. "This is the first time humans have done biological growth experiments on the lunar surface," said Xie Gengxin, who led the design of the experiment, on Tuesday. Plants have been grown previously on the International Space Station, but this is the first time a seed has sprouted on the moon. The ability to grow plants in space is seen as crucial for long-term space missions and establishing human outposts elsewhere in the solar system, such as Mars.

4 of 145 comments (clear)

  1. And so? by XXongo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm really not sure what this is supposed to prove. Has anybody ever suggested, or is there any reason to believe, that seeds would not sprout on the moon?

    1. Re:And so? by careysub · · Score: 5, Insightful

      After the sprouting comes growth. No one has ever raised a plant in a gravity field of 1/6 G. Never. Schemes to simulate it on Earth do not really do that, and while a centrifuge in orbit can do a proper simulation, no one has ever operated such a centrifuge over a plants life cycle.

      --
      Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
    2. Re:And so? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They are trying to create a completely self contained environment in which plants and fruit flies can live, and observe the effects of low gravity on them.

      Sure, we assumed it would be fine, but it's a good idea to prove that assumption before sending tonnes of soil and plants up there with a view to sustaining human life. It's also a useful test of the sealed environment idea and technology, in an environment subject to extreme temperature swings.

      Much of that tech will be applicable to Mars too.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  2. Re:Thanks for Contaminating the Moon by AlwinBarni · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Thanks, China, for destroying lunar science by ...

    - Moon is lifeless, there is no need to worry about contamination (it's not Mars) - really
    - the seeds are in a sealed container, even if breached it will be sterilized by the solar radiation
    - germinating seeds is an important experiment for potential human settlements on the Moon - shoulv'e been done long time ago