How to Grow Plants on the Moon – New Study

Believe it or not, there is a way to grow plants on the moon. There have been many attempts in the past to grow plants on the moon but they never were successful. Scientists were able to figure out which environmental factors helped the plants get the strongest genetic response to stress. Most of the stress reaction in the Apollo plant seedlings came from metal and oxygen that is highly reactive. This led to the seedlings being stunned and having poor root growth.

Key Takeaways:

Researchers cultivated plants in soil brought back by the Apollo astronauts.
The lunar soil doesn’t have organic material but has many of the same minerals as terrestrial soils.
Mature lunar soil was less effective for growing due to the presence of glassy agglutinates.

“This is the question that colonists on the Moon (and Mars) would have to tackle if (or when) human exploration of our planetary neighbours goes ahead.”