unorthodox move of growing plants on the moon possibly as early as 2025.
Australian space start-up Lunaria One’s Australian Lunar Experiment Promoting Horticulture (ALEPH) will be the 1st in a series of studies to evaluate if plants cannot just tolerate but thrive on the moon’s surface. The project is an early move for growing plants for food, medicine and oxygen forming, which are vital for human settlements on the moon.
Scientist expect the lessons learnt from the mission to assist in paving the way for new techniques to enhance sustainable food production on Earth and support food security in case of climate-driven issues.
The mission is a global partnership among institutions, such as Queensland University of Technology, RMIT University, Australian National University (ANU) and Ben Gurion University in Israel, together with industry bodies. Plants types delivered to the moon will be carefully chosen depending on prompt germinations and their tolerance to harsh temperature swings in space.
ANU Associate Professor Caitlin Byrt, a science advisor for Lunaria One and an ARC Future Fellow stated that the mission gave a “unique” chance for ANU scientists to implement what they know of plant germination resilience to identify the plants that can resist harsh atmospheres like the moon. Associate Professor Byrt, from the ANU Research School of Biology and the ANU Institute for Space (InSpace) says “Space is an exceptional testing ground for how to propagate plants in the most extreme of environments.”
“The extreme conditions that Earth is facing due to climate change present challenges for how we manage food security in the future,” she added. Professor Byrt further stated that the project is vital for producing propagation systems relevant to issues on Earth.
The Lunaria One team is a truly global collaboration with researchers from Australia, Israel, South Africa and the US.
