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: 1) by LAV8.ORg on Friday January 18 2019, @11:37PM
A pipe dream gave us indoor plumbing; overwhelming complexity alone is not sufficient to preclude development of what would be profoundly beneficial.
Seamless extraEarth colonization will take countless generations, but failure to evolve beyond Earth will take all of them, and that quantity is provably lesser (inclusive).