Scientists Grow First Plants in Lunar Soil
Last May, scientists reported that they’d successfully grown plants in moon soil for the first time. At the University of Florida’s Space Plants Lab in Gainesville, a dozen Arabidopsis thaliana plants germinated and grew, each in a few teaspoons of lunar regolith — the dusty material that covers much of the moon.
“The first surprise was that they germinated at all,” says Rob Ferl, who with fellow horticultural scientist Anna-Lisa Paul, directs the lab. “Lunar regolith is sharp and angular. There was no reason to think that plants would embrace it whatsoever.”
The second surprise was how they grew, says Paul. Compared to growth in terrestrial soil, these plants were stunted and stressed. Genetic analyses helped explain why. “Even though they looked well, the plants had to engage different kinds of genes to physiologically adjust to the environment,” she says.