MNN - Mother Nature Network

In filmmaker Danny Boyle’s “Sunshine,” Michelle Yeoh plays a future botanist who travels aboard a space station tending plants. Now, this futuristic concept may become a reality. Space.com reports that scientists are exploring how to extract mineral nutrients from moon dirt to use in future space farms. During the Apollo-era of space travel, astronauts brought back moon dirt to test on plants. Experts hope to use more recent technologies to determine the validity of the space dust theory.

 

Apollo-era research looked at the lunar regolith that resides on top of the moon. This is a mixture of space dust, soil, broken rock and more. Scientists performed various experiments with the precious samples but were unable to go as far as they wanted in their research because of technological limitations. Robert Ferl is a geneticist at the University of Florida in Gainesville. As he told Space.com, "In spite of the fact that we absolutely admire the innovative science done in the Apollo era, the question of whether a plant could grow if you plop a seed in lunar regolith hasn't been answered.”

 

If experts are able to determine how plants can grow in lunar soil, the research could be used to help sustain life in space. But the concept isn’t just about creating greenhouses in the sky. Anna-Lisa Paul, Ferl’s colleague at the University of Florida, says that scientists may find new plant nutrients.

 

 

The samples brought back from the Apollo missions were small, but new technologies can work around that issue. Space.com reports that just one gram of lunar regolith could help plants like cabbage and radishes grow, as scientists have developed a way to extract important minerals from moon dirt. As Paul tells Space.com, "You have the colonization of the plant roots by a host of organisms that break down and transport materials. These things facilitate the harvesting of molecules from the substrate in which the plant is growing."