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Giant Leaf For Mankind? China Germinates First Seed on Moon (theguardian.com)
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.
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?
It appears it's Earth soil. I found nothing in the article to suggest it's using lunar soil here, which would be the real test. The article should have pointed that out; it's not a trivial admission.
Table-ized A.I.
It's all in a sealed environment. The idea is to create a viable, self-contained environment with some plants and fruit flies.
In any case, that boat has probably already sailed as it seems that at least one of the Surveyor probes was contaminated. And you also have to ask if it's worth worrying about, given that we are fairly certain that the Moon is dead and not having to deal with it will make life a lot easier to establish a presence there.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Zero-G growth experiments are not 1/6-G growth experiments. This has never been done before.
Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
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
Have you looked at the US Space Program? I don't mean looking at our historic achievements, I mean looking at where we are today. While we were celebrating our wins, we allowed our Aerospace Industry to drive the cost of space so high that it strangled our ability to explore. Here's a news flash; Apollo 11's landing was 49.5 years ago. Most people who saw the it are retired or getting ready to retire.
It's worse. Most NASA badges are currently drawing unemployment, and the few that are showing up to work aren't getting paid. We haven't had manned spaceflight capability in almost a decade, and the only reason we're on the ISS is because the Russians choose to let us ride along. With the current electile dysfunction there is a good chance we miss the window for the 2020 rover launch too.
There are times for swinging your "My country is better than yours!" stick around; this isn't one.