Scientists Successfully Grow First Plant in Lunar Soil, Here’s How it Happened
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Making a new step towards space exploration, scientists revealed last week that they succeeded in planting plants in land collected from the moon. Details of this breakthrough study were revealed in a new published research paper in the Journal of Communications Biology. The study funded by NASA was carried out by scientists at the University of Florida who succeeded in growing strong and well studied Arabidopsis in the Lunar Poor nutrition brought to earth during the Apollo 11, 12 and 17 missions, by the American Space Agency. According to NASA, the surface material of the moon, known as regolith, was brought to earth where it could be studied with sophisticated equipment and stored for future research. For this experiment, the researchers planted plant seeds associated with green mustard, as well as other cross vegetables, including broccoli and cauliflower, in the moon soil. In a press release, NASA explained that the plant also plays a key role for scientists because of its small size and ease of growth,
it is one of the most studied plants in the world. Arabidopsis thaliana is used as an organism model for research in all fields of plant biology.Anna-Lisa Paul, a research professor at the Department of Horticulture at Florida University and the first author of this study, described the moon soil as “subtle” and “powder” that “attached to everything.”
The researchers added water and then the seeds to the moon soil sample and then put the tray into the terarium box in a clean room. Nutrition solution is also added every day to the mixture. This study found that seeds began to grow in a few days of planting. However, scientists observe that all seeds that grow on the moon soil do not grow as “strong” as in control. This study states that some plants that grow in the moon soil sample have been “hampered” roots and leaves, as well as some “reddish pigmentation.”
However, this is a significant progress in space biology such as Sharmila Bhattacharya, a program scientist with the Biology and Physical Sciences Division of NASA (BPS) said in a statement, “Not only fun for us to have plants around us, especially when we walk to Brave new destinations in space, but they can provide additional nutrition for our diet and allow human exploration in the future. “
Making a new step towards space exploration, scientists revealed last week that they succeeded in planting plants in land collected from the moon. Details of this breakthrough study were revealed in a new published research paper in the Journal of Communications Biology. The study funded by NASA was carried out by scientists at the University…