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posted by mrpg on Friday January 18 2019, @01:30PM   Printer-friendly
from the don't-lose-hope-humans! dept.

First green leaf on moon dies as temperatures plummet

The appearance of a single green leaf hinted at a future in which astronauts would grow their own food in space, potentially setting up residence at outposts on the moon or other planets. Now, barely after it had sprouted, the cotton plant onboard China’s lunar rover has died.

The plant relied on sunlight at the moon’s surface, but as night arrived at the lunar far side and temperatures plunged as low as -170C, its short life came to an end.

Prof Xie Gengxin of Chongqing University, who led the design of the experiment, said its short lifespan had been anticipated. “Life in the canister would not survive the lunar night,” Xie said.


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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by deimtee on Friday January 18 2019, @03:22PM (3 children)

    by deimtee (3272) on Friday January 18 2019, @03:22PM (#788248) Journal

    The obvious answer, if you have the ability to build as you suggest, is a retirement home. Ask any old person if they'd like things to weigh one sixth as much, have slow reactions be plenty fast enough to catch stuff you drop. Be able to throw away that zimmer frame and slow dance across the room.

    That also takes care of most of the health problems. They won't be having kids, and likely won't be coming back. They are probably already taking pills for bone loss, and being able to move around will probably result in less muscle loss than being immobile on earth.

    --
    If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
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  • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday January 18 2019, @06:04PM (2 children)

    by Freeman (732) on Friday January 18 2019, @06:04PM (#788326) Journal

    Considering the physical fitness of current Space going people, the effects are based on prime specimens of humanity. Not ones that are already falling apart. Grandpa might not even survive lift off. Also, old people develop things like Alzheimers and Dementia. I can't imagine managing those on the Moon would be easier than on Earth. At least Earth has an Atmosphere, if they were to somehow wander outside and leave the door open.

    --
    Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 18 2019, @06:25PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 18 2019, @06:25PM (#788334)

      The retirement home idea would only be viable once the colony is up and running and pretty large, thus travel would be pretty regular and a low-G retirement home would be very expensive so they would probably have no qualms making some expensive accommodations for the rich old geezers like fancy flight suits and chairs. They might even be able to do some kind of less efficient "slow" launches to reduce the G forces.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by deimtee on Saturday January 19 2019, @02:12AM

      by deimtee (3272) on Saturday January 19 2019, @02:12AM (#788508) Journal

      The gp post in this thread posited dropping an AI on the moon and having it build a city, and then asked what you could use the city for.
      To be honest, I expect that by the time a retirement home on the moon would be viable, it would also be superfluous due to things like SENS.
      Single large advances in tech make for reasonable SF stories, but in real life advances in other fields occur contemporaneously and can totally change the effect of the advance. Decrepit old people in advanced future societies is just unrealistic. There may be some limit to how long the brain can work, but right up until the end it will be housed in a body that is fit, healthy and apparently young.

      --
      If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.