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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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First Green Leaf on Moon Dies as Temperatures Plummet
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Slowly and surely the unix crept up on the Nintendo user ...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by PinkyGigglebrain on Friday January 18 2019, @08:05PM
1 thermal insulation can can be delt with by burying the base under a few feet of dirt
2 dirt and water make a better radiation shield than you think
3, good air filters and proper post moonwalk cleaning procedures can handle that.
4, there is actually a LOT of Oxygen on the Moon. It is tied up with various metals in the Lunar soil/rock, all you need is Hydrogen and energy to free it. And there is actually a fair amount of water on the Moon [space.com], think about how much more is probably underground.
5 there is plenty of available energy sources on the Moon, apart from solar energy in the day (no clouds!) there is also a surprising amount of easy to get Thorium [wikipedia.org] to power/heat your base/colony during the night.
6 that is true in any first settlement in a new land. You bring/ship in what you need until you are self sufficient. So far none of the moon missions were "lets build a permanent settlement" type of missions.
Pointing at the lack of self sustaining bases in Antartica is a red hearing, there hasn't been any attempt to make the outposts self sustaining.
If the effort was made there could be a fully self sustaining colony on the Moon within a decade, two at the most. It wouldn't be luxurious but it would be independent.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."