Seeds on-board China’s Spacecraft begin to sprout on the moon. That’s right, remember China’s spacecraft Chang’e 4 craft (嫦娥四号) that landed on the far side of the moon? That’s where the science experiment took place.
To be more precise, the seed was not planted onto the moon’s surface. Instead it was an experiment within a sealed container.
The whole experiment is contained within an 18cm tall, 3kg canister that was designed by 28 Chinese universities.
Inside this sealed container on board the spacecraft its special cargo is a soil containing cotton and potato seeds, yeast and fruit fly eggs.
With this setup it will try to form a mini biosphere, in hopes that it will be able to self sustain itself on the moon.
A script from the movie ‘The Martian’ is slowly becoming a reality with China’s achievement of growing biological matter on the moon.
Previously plants have been successfully grown on the International Space Station, but never on the moon.
With this success of being able to grow plants on the moon, it may open up the future of astronauts being able to grow and harvest food in space and reduce the need to return to earth for resupply.
