Scientists Succeeded in Growing Plants in Soil That Came from the Moon

 

Scientists Succeeded in Growing Plants in Soil That Came from the Moon

The moon as a natural satellite of the earth is one of the things in the solar system whose existence is still full of mysteries. Therefore, it is not surprising that a number of scientists on earth are still conducting research on various things owned by the satellite. The research was carried out from various layers that surround the moon, ranging from air, soil, to water. One of the objectives of the research is to prove whether there is life on the satellite according to its own character.

Decades, research in question has continued since the first mission to the moon landing was carried out. On the way, there are those that do not produce results but there are also those that produce discoveries and experiments that gave birth to great discoveries. As happened recently, a research group consisting of scientists from the US managed to grow plant seeds in soil that came from the moon. How can this process and this happen? In the research, it is stated that the object of the plant used as the experimental material is Arabidopsis thaliana, the species is a plant from the Brassicaceae family.

The selection itself is not without reason, because this plant has been considered the most suitable to be a model for plant development studies. Its form is better known as the seeds of small-flowered weeds that usually grow in areas of sand and rocky soil, on the edges of European roads. Meanwhile, regarding the planting media according to the main topic, the soil used is lunar soil samples that have been taken during NASA missions several decades ago, in the range of 1969-1972 to be exact. Previously, researchers revealed that lunar soil itself is known to contain sharp particles and lack organic matter, which is very different from the character of soil on earth. Therefore, they do not know whether it is possible for the plant seeds to germinate or to grow in lunar soil.

Anna-Lisa Paul, director of the University of Florida's Center for Interdisciplinary Biotechnology Research and co-leader of the study, said that the initial success was quite surprising to all involved. "When we first saw lots of green sprouts scattered across all the (moon soil) samples, we were astonished," he said in the journal Communications Biology, published by Reuters. In more detail, it was stated that this research was initially carried out by planting Arabidopsis thaliana seeds in 12 small containers each containing one gram of lunar soil sample, and hereinafter more accurately referred to as lunar regolith.

In addition, they also made comparisons by doing the same thing, namely planting in the earth's soil with different mineral compositions and particle sizes. Initially, each seed from each of the two types of samples germinated successfully, and there was no difference in the early stages of growth. Although it is undeniable, if in the next few days there is a visible difference where plants growing in lunar soil samples have the ability to grow less well when compared to plants growing on earth's soil. Although plants can grow in lunar soil, they have to work metabolically hard to do so," said Paul. In more detail, it was noted that seeds planted in lunar soil grew slower and were generally smaller, had stunted roots and tended to exhibit stress-related traits such as smaller leaves, and a reddish black color which is not typical for plant growth. healthy ones.

They also show the activity of genes that indicate stress, similar to the reactions of plants to salts, metals, and oxidation. After about one week of growth, the researchers removed all the samples from the quarantine container, and allowed them to grow until they were 20 days old before taking the leaves to carry out further research, such as identifying the activity and character of the growing genes, from the results of planting in the lunar soil.

From the expenditures made, researchers also found the fact that lunar soil samples that have experienced longer exposure to cosmic rays and the solar wind, are less hospitable to plant growth. Although there are still a number of shortcomings, this discovery is considered a big leap for humans. Rob Ferl, assistant director of the University of Florida's Center for Interdisciplinary Biotechnology Research stated that this discovery further increases the chances that in the future, humans will actually be able to obtain a source of life other than the earth, as an alternative to many problems that occur today.

"Growing plants (on lunar soil) is an achievement that says we can go to the moon and grow our food, clean our air, and recycle our water using plants like we use on Earth," he said. Ferl even revealed that things that previously might only be seen as fictional stories in the science genre film, such as in the film The Martian (2015) which showed when an astronaut planted potatoes on the Red Planet--Mars, could actually happen in some time. which will come.

"Plants can grow on lunar soil. One simple statement is huge and opens the door for future exploration using resources on the moon and possibly Mars."