Scientists Take, Giant First Step , Toward Lunar Farming.<br />'Time' reports that NASA's Artemis program <br />aims to return American astronauts to the <br />moon and establish permanent lunar bases.<br />'Time' reports that NASA's Artemis program <br />aims to return American astronauts to the <br />moon and establish permanent lunar bases.<br />This means they must use the moon's soil, <br />referred to as regolith, as a medium <br />to grow crops in lunar greenhouses.<br />With NASA prepping themselves <br />to go back to the moon for longer excursions, <br />it became much more relevant that we <br />understand how resources that are in situ on <br />the moon can be used to further exploration, Anna-Lisa Paul, horticulturist <br />and lead author of the paper, via 'Time'.<br />According to a new study published <br />in 'Communications Biology,' scientists have <br />successfully grown crops in lunar soil for the first time.<br />The research was carried out <br />at the University of Florida by a team <br />of two horticulturalists and one geologist. .<br />The plants grown in lunar soil were smaller <br />and developed more slowly than control plants <br />grown in terrestrial volcanic soil.<br />The results led the team to suggest that <br />the age of the soil plays a crucial role <br />in determining the success of crops.<br />What we found was that the regoliths <br />that were more mature were indeed <br />more toxic to the plants, or at least they <br />presented a more toxic response, Anna-Lisa Paul, horticulturist <br />and lead author of the paper, via 'Time'.<br />What we could simply do in the absence <br />of other constraining factors, is land <br />and establish a habitat on a lunar surface <br />that is significantly younger than <br />the Apollo 11, 12, and 17 sites, Stephen Elardo, geologist and co-author, via 'Time'
