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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, @03:33PM
My wild-ass guesses:
1) Sure, variations been tried many times. The words you're looking for are "artificial biosphere".
2) Artificial light, obviously. "Self-sustaining" is a bit of a misnomer - how long do you want to sustain it? How do plants on earth survive very roughly 12 hours of darkness per day? But for our purposes solar panels charging batteries capable of providing the light might be an answer.
3) Fruit flies may have been selected to prove the point that we may need a defense against them (or maybe not if there's something about lower gravity that screws them up). I doubt the ones they brought up will evolve to be a problem to future place. But aside from that: They aid the decomposition process I believe. Decomposition, especially in a space environment, is something that would be needed to be as carefully managed as the growth. Maybe in a controlled environment they might become useful - temperature controls them well and any biosphere would need to have the ability to control its temperatures.
"Big fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so, ad infinitum.
And the great fleas, themselves, in turn, have greater fleas to go on;
While these again have greater still, and greater still, and so on."
If you're colonizing off earth DeMorgan might advise that you make sure you're taking the right fleas.