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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: 2) by HiThere on Friday January 18 2019, @07:10PM (1 child)

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Friday January 18 2019, @07:10PM (#788369) Journal

    The moon's long (14-day) night and massive day/night temperature swings are hard problems for spacecraft and habitat design.

    Append "if the habitat is built on the surface". I suspect a foot underground the variation is a lot less. I'm rather certain that 2 feet (or 2/3 meter) underground it's a lot less. And the suggested locations are lava tubes, which are a lot deeper than that.

    If you were just talking about "for this experiment" then you'd have a really valid point. If you're talking about habitats and spacecraft in general, then you need to re-think things. But you may have just been talking about "for this experiment". I wouldn't have called that chamber for growing seeds and silkworms a habitat, but perhaps you would.

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  • (Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Saturday January 19 2019, @08:17PM

    by ElizabethGreene (6748) Subscriber Badge on Saturday January 19 2019, @08:17PM (#788751) Journal

    Yep. The thermal mass (and radiation protection) of living underground will help a lot. The same applies for Mars too. I'm excited to see what the geology probe on the insight lander returns about the temperature gradient there.