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China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout
Seeds taken up to the Moon by China's Chang'e-4 mission have sprouted, says China National Space Administration. It marks the first time any biological matter has grown on the Moon, and is being seen as a significant step towards long-term space exploration. [...] Plants have been grown on the International Space Station before but never on the Moon.
[...] The Chinese Moon lander was carrying among its cargo soil containing cotton and potato seeds, yeast and fruit fly eggs. The plants are in a sealed container on board the lander. The crops will try to form a mini biosphere - an artificial, self-sustaining environment.
[...] On Tuesday, Chinese state media said the cotton seeds had now grown buds. The ruling Communist Party's official mouthpiece the People's Daily tweeted an image of the sprouted seed, saying it marked "the completion of humankind's first biological experiment on the Moon".
Fred Watson, Australian Astronomical Observatory's astronomer-at-large, told the BBC the development was "good news". "It suggests that there might not be insurmountable problems for astronauts in future trying to grow their own crops on the moon in a controlled environment."
According to SCMP, a similar biosphere experiment will be conducted on Earth for comparison.
A Chang'e-5 lunar exploration vehicle could be launched by the end of 2019, and would include a 2 kg sample return. At least 3 more Chang'e missions are planned.
Previously: China's Chang'e 4 Spacecraft Lands on the Far Side of the Moon
Chang'e Lander Sends Back Far Side Panorama
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 15 2019, @02:46PM (5 children)
No.
"With a robot" is to colonization what "on a computer" is (well, should be) to patents.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday January 15 2019, @03:18PM (4 children)
And the legal status of "what should be" in regard to patents done 'on a computer' is what, versus what actually occurs? Paraphrasing Heinlein, lawyers really don't care what should be as "should be's" almost never make them money where what "actually is" does.
But let's say you're right and it must be a human being who grows crops there in order to establish colonization (or there has to be a person or people on the land to be recongized as a colony). You can make a case for that. And China didn't do something which has never occurred before in the history of humankind. After all, reality as I understand it is that NASA has already grown food plants in microgravity [nasa.gov], so it's not like the Chinese were the first to prove that one can grow plants off-Earth. They're establishing it can be done in an intermediate range between microgravity and one g - a good feat in and of itself. But in my mind what they've really proven is a foundation for expansion. A logical extension of this may become that they'll send enough robotic missions that will pre-grow the oxygen producing and food-giving crops to support a human colonization crew long before that crew ever actually gets there. (Also akin to The Martian among others as the ARES bases were landed long before their crews showed up.) Should that come to pass then where will the United States (and the rest of the spacegoing nations) be?
We've seen China drop several gauntlets in terms of space exploration without real recognition from the U.S. that perhaps we should be thinking that another space race is on. And the U.S. is still jawing away in the locker room (Moon? Mars? forget it all?) while China is out there pushing for the gold.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday January 15 2019, @03:39PM (3 children)
Jawing away in the locker room? No - they haven't even arrived in the city where the stadium is waiting for them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 15 2019, @11:11PM (2 children)
Is it comfy? I mean, the sand you sunk your head in?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday January 15 2019, @11:33PM (1 child)
You should go stick your head in the lunar regolith. Oh, wait, you can't. The US went there once, but got sidetracked with that shuttle theater. The next people to walk on the moon are almost certainly going to be Chinese. Are you Chinese?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 16 2019, @07:47AM
No, I'm Russian.