Scientists Successfully Grow Plants in Lunar Soil

In preparation for permanently putting humans on the moon, scientists at the University of Florida attempted to grow plants using lunar soil. The Artemis program, which began in 2017, is an effort to establish a human presence on the moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972. The ultimate goal is to have a permanent base on the moon where people can live, but this cannot be done without the proper resources that humans need to survive. One of the firs steps in making this dream a reality is testing the soil to see if edible plants can be grown on the moon. So far, the results are promising.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson explains the importance of the experiment. “This research is critical to NASA’s long-term human exploration goals as we’ll need to use resources found on the Moon and Mars to develop food sources for future astronauts living and operating in deep space,” he said. “This fundamental plant growth research is also a key example of how NASA is working to unlock agricultural innovations that could help us understand how plants might overcome stressful conditions in food-scarce areas here on Earth.”

Lunar Soil vs Earth Soil

Lunar soil, also known as regolith, is far different from what is found on Earth. It is powdery and contains far less nutrients than regular dirt. It is rich in iron and contains tiny shards of glass from broken meteorites. Additionally, it is hard to come by. There is not a whole lot of regolith on Earth. Small amounts have been collected on moon missions over the last 50 years. It took some convincing (about 11 years’ worth), but the Florida scientists finally persuaded NASA to give up some of the soil for testing. The team was given about 12 grams, only a few teaspoons, to work with.

What Did They Grow?

Realizing that there was not much regolith to work with, the UF scientists chose to grow thale cress, a broccoli-type plant that does not need much soil to grow. The dirt was separated into 12 tiny containers. They added a small amount of water and nutrients and planted the seeds. For comparison, the same seeds were also planted in volcanic ash because it resembles lunar soil in many ways.

After just two days, the seeds began to sprout, both shocking and pleasing those involved. “Everything sprouted. I can’t tell you how astonished we were!” said Anna-Lisa Paul, the lead author of the report.

As time went on, the scientists noticed that the plants in the regolith were not doing as well as those planted in volcanic ash. Around day six, it became clear that the lunar soil was stunting the roots of the plants. The leaves were also stunted, and their color changed to a reddish shade. Around day 20, the plants were harvested and ground up so that the researchers could study their RNA and better understand why they grew the way they did.

This research is precious to scientists and moon explorers. If plants can grow on the moon, they could provide much-needed oxygen and food to sustain those who live there.

“Not only is it pleasing for us to have plants around us, especially as we venture to new destinations in space, but they could provide supplemental nutrition to our diets and enable future human exploration. Plants are what enable us to be explorers,” said Sharmila Bhattacharya, program scientist with NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences (BPS) Division.