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RandomFactor writes:

China's Lander Successfully Grew Some Cotton Plants on the Moon. Fruit Flies and Potatoes Didn't Fare So Well"

When China's Chang'e-4 spacecraft landed on the lunar far side on January 3rd 2019, it made history. It was the first spacecraft to visit that part of the Moon, and among its payload was a 2.6 kg (5.7 lb) mini-biosphere called the Lunar Micro Ecosystem (LME).

The sealed, cylindrical biosphere is only 18 cm (7.1 in) long and 16 cm (6.3 in) in diameter. The LME carried six lifeforms, kept in mostly Earth-like conditions except for micro-gravity and lunar radiation.

The LME carried:

• cotton seeds
• potato seeds
• rape seeds
• yeast
• fruit fly eggs
• Arabidopsis thaliana, a common, hardy weed

All of these were unsuccessful, except the cotton.

The LME was not heated and depended on direct sunlight to keep it warm enough for the organisms onboard to survive and grow.

In the 14 days before nightfall, and the inevitable -190C (-310F) Lunar nighttime temperatures ended the experiment the cotton was known to have sprouted, but it was thought

that there was only one leaf, but now data indicates there were two.

[...] a 3D reconstruction based on data analysis and image processing[...] clearly shows two leaves.

China is already planning a sample return mission in the mid 2020's Chang'e-5 (or its backup Chang'e-6) and the team responsible for the LME hopes to send more lifeforms on this one as well, including potentially more complex ones.

Original Submission