Cotton seed sprouts on the moon
Print Edition
IN an out of world first, one of the cotton seeds carried to the moon by China’s Chang’e-4 probe has sprouted.
After making the first soft landing on the far side, China’s Chang’e-4 mission pioneered the first mini biosphere experiment on the moon.
Xie Gengxin, a professor of Chongqing University and chief designer of the experiment, said yesterday that a canister installed on the lander of the Chang’e-4 probe contained the seeds of cotton, rapeseed, potato and Arabidopsis, as well as eggs of the fruit fly and some yeast. This formed a simple mini biosphere.
Images sent by the probe showed that a cotton seed had sprouted, though no other plants were growing.
The cylinder canister, made from special aluminum alloy materials, is 198 millimeters tall, with a diameter of 173mm and a weight of 2.6 kilograms.
It also holds water, soil, air, two small cameras and a heat control system, Xie said.
He added that potatoes could be a major source of food for future space travelers. The growth period of Arabidopsis, a small flowering plant related to cabbage and mustard, is short and easy to observe.
Yeast could play a role in regulating carbon dioxide and oxygen in the mini biosphere, and the fruit fly would be a consumer of the photosynthesis process.
Researchers used biological technology to render the seeds and eggs dormant during the two months when the probe went through final checks in the launch center and journey of more than 20 days through space.
After Chang’e-4 landed on the far side of the moon on January 3, the ground control center instructed the probe to water the plants to start the growing process.
A tube directs natural light on the surface of the moon into the canister.
The Chang’e-4 probe entered a “sleep mode” on Sunday as the first lunar night after the probe’s landing fell. The temperature could drop as low as about minus 170 degrees Celsius.
“Life in the canister will not survive the lunar night,” Xie said, so the experiment has ended.
The organisms will gradually decompose in the totally enclosed canister, and will not affect the lunar environment, said the China National Space Administration.
Although astronauts have cultivated plants on the International Space Station, and rice and Arabidopsis were grown on China’s Tiangong-2 space lab, those experiments were conducted in low-Earth orbit, at an altitude of about 400 kilometers. The environment on the moon, 380,000km from Earth, is more complex.
“We had no such experience before,” Xie said. “And we could not simulate the lunar environment, such as microgravity and cosmic radiation, on Earth.”
Researchers expect the experiment may help acquire knowledge for building a lunar base and long-term residence on the moon.
Xie said it was also aimed at inspiring young people’s enthusiasm for space exploration, and popularizing sciences such as photosynthesis. The public, especially young people, have been encouraged to participate in the Chang’e-4 mission.
The CNSA, the Ministry of Education, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the China Association for Science and Technology, and other organizations launched a contest among students across China in 2015, collecting ideas on the design of the payloads.
The “lunar mini biosphere” experiment was selected from more than 250 submissions.
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