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.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Immerman on Friday January 18 2019, @06:44PM
Umm, no. A vacuum layer only offers perfect insulation against conduction and convection - it does nothing whatsoever against radiation (which, for reference, is the *only* benefit of a "space blanket" over an ordinary sheet of plastic). Now, you could build a radiant barrier as well, but that's added weight and cost - and every gram spent on one thing is a gram not spent on another.
Not to say I wouldn't have liked to see it done just to be more thorough, but I wasn't the one deciding on the priorities for the available budget.