Seeds taken up to the Moon by China's Chang'e-4 mission have sprouted, says China National Space Administration.
China has successfully germinated a seed taken to the Moon – It marks the first time any biological matter has grown on the Moon in space, as part of an unmanned lunar mission which aims to help inform long-term space exploration.
The Chang'e 4 is the first mission to touch down on the surface of the far side of the Moon earlier this month. The spacecraft carried with it a number of instruments designed to study the lunar surface and geology of the Von Kármán crater where the craft made its soft landing.
Along with a number of sophisticated scientific instruments, the mission’s lunar lander carried a sealed container, the lunar mini biosphere experiment. It contains soil and cotton, rape, arabidopsis, potato seeds, as well as eggs of fruit flies and some yeast.
Chinese state media report that the cotton seeds have sprouted aboard the lander. Previously, plants have been grown on the International Space Station, but this is the first time that any biological matter has grown on the Moon.
Pictures sent back on Tuesday Jan. 12 showed plant shoots growing well nine days after the experiment was initiated, Chongqing University, which led the biological project, said in a briefing. The first green leaf comes from cotton seeds, according to the scientists.
This is the first time humans have done biological growth experiments on the lunar surface. Plants have been grown on the International Space Station before but never on the Moon.
The ability to grow plants on the Moon will be integral for long-term space missions, like a trip to Mars which would take about two-and-a-half years.
It would mean that astronauts could potentially harvest their own food in space, reducing the need to come back down to Earth to resupply. Potatoes could be a main source food for space explorers, cotton could be used for clothing, and rapeseed could be a source of oil.
The bio-technical test load is made of special aluminium alloy material, 173 mm in diameter and 198.3 mm in height. In addition to 6 kinds of organisms, there are 18 ml of water inside, as well as soil, air, thermal control and two recorded biological growth states. The camera has a total weight of 2.608 kg and a biological growth space of about 1 litre.
The end goal of this experiment is the creation of a “mini biosphere. The plants produced oxygen and food by photosynthesis and sustained the fruit flies. The yeast, acting as a decomposition agent, processed waste from the flies and the dead plants to create an additional food source for the insects.
Future astronauts headed to Mars will need sustainable sustenance for the two-and-a-half-year journey and then on the surface of the Red Planet once they arrive. With the ability to grow edible plants, astronauts could grow and harvest their own food, enabling long-term habitation.