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First Green Leaf on Moon Dies as Temperatures Plummet

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

An Anonymous Coward writes:

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 PinkyGigglebrain on Friday January 18 2019, @07:28PM

    by PinkyGigglebrain (4458) on Friday January 18 2019, @07:28PM (#788377)

    "Wouldn't it make more sense to grow the plant under artificial lighting (that can be set to a 24h cycle like on Earth), and use solar cells and batteries to power that lighting as well as heating when necessary?"

    If the intent had been to actually grow something on the moon then yeah, the chamber should have had a light and temp control.

    If however the attempt was to make a tasty news bite that sounded cool then why bother adding weight and complexity to the rover? Like the Sputnik 2 [wikipedia.org] was nothing more than a "We got the first dog in SPACE!!!!" PR victory for the USSR (the dog baked to death after a few hours due to the temperature in the capsule becoming too high).

    The only thing that has been "proven" with this latest stunt is that a seed can germinate if you put it in some wet medium and don't let it freeze while it is on the Moon. I seem to recall some plants .being raised on Skylab or the ISS a long time ago so it really isn't all that big a deal for science.

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