The dream of life on the Moon will become possible as soon as we solve the most basic questions. What to eat, for example. A group of Chinese scientists has already come up with an idea that does not involve the transfer of ammunition from Earth. They believe that lunar soil can be turned into fertile soil with the help of bacteria and thus enable agriculture in space.
In general terms the plan is this: grow some three bacteria from lunar soil that have the ability to enhance the presence of phosphorus, main nutrient for plants. They are confident that it can work, having already conducted tests on terrain that simulates the Moon. And it was a complete success.
Scientists have cultivated a relative of tobacco. In an experiment conducted in a laboratory in China, they saw plants with longer stems and roots sprout from simulated soil called lunar regolith. This is compared to what happened in another area where these microbes were not introduced. Even the leaves were heavier and wider.
The bacteria made the soil more acidic, explained the researchers of the study, which was just published in the journal. Communication biology. The acid lowered the pH, allowing insoluble phosphate-containing minerals to dissolve and release phosphorus.
“We could use these microbes to transform lunar regolith into a bio-clean substrate for growing plants in future lunar greenhouses,” said Yitong Xia, a researcher at China Agricultural University and lead author of the study. Reuters. The test lasted 21 days and they actually tested five bacteria. Only three worked: Bacillus mucilaginosus, Bacillus megaterium And Pseudomonas fluorescence.
Seeding on the Moon is the key to future missions
Humans have not returned to the Moon for over 50 years. But the two great powers are already packing their bags to return to satellite this decade. NASA, the American space agency, hopes to achieve this in 2025. And China has said it will send its astronauts before 2030. India is also working on landing on the moon, but this won’t happen until 2040.
Everybody wants to come back now because They expect to find a lot of frozen water at the satellite’s south pole.. In addition to being essential for human life, it can be a source of hydrogen and oxygen, which can be used, for example, to produce rocket fuel. Lunar soil is also rich in iron, silicon and magnesium. With lunar mining just around the corner, space powers are looking for a way to solve the problem of staying there for long periods of time.
“Given the huge scientific and economic potential of the Moon, in the future we will need to create habitable lunar bases. But how can we provide food, oxygen and water to the crew?” asked Xia. Transportation by rocket is not economically feasible. The important thing here is to decide how to land on the Moon. “A greenhouse for growing plants on the Moon could significantly reduce the need for Earth-Moon transportation.”– said the scientist.
Both China and the United States already include manned bases in their plans. The Chinese team said it hopes to send a six-legged insect-like robot that will be responsible for making the “lunar soil bricks” and thus assembling the base.
What are the next steps?
Other solutions for planting plants on the Moon involve transferring fertile soil. There is also the option of building a hydroponic system, which will allow you to grow plants without soil. However, all of them would require a huge rocket payload and cost a lot of money.
“In contrast, our technology, which is a type of in situ resource utilization, applies microbial enhancements to the lunar soil, making it more fertile and suitable for growing plants,” Xia emphasized. “Our study achieved the same goal while consuming much less charging power compared to other plans.”
The experiment was carried out with simulated soil because, obviously, there are few real samples returned from the Moon. The scientists used volcanic material from the Changbai Mountains in China’s Jilin province. These soils are similar in their chemical and physical properties to lunar regolith. Future missions will have the opportunity to bring back more samples or repeat similar studies directly on our Moon.
Source: Hiper Textual
