NASA plans to send seeds to the moon for food production

According to The Telegraph, NASA plans to send seeds to the moon in 2015. This will be the first time in history that the US agency will send this type of material into space, and the initiative is part of a project aimed at objective to develop on the satellite a kind of spatial “garden”.

The seeds - watercress, turnip and basil - will be shipped in containers called Lunar Plant Growth Chambers that have been specially developed to accommodate the vegetables. These receptacles will have enough oxygen for ten days, allowing plants to sprout and grow for five days.

Moon Garden

Instead of seeds being planted directly on lunar soil, they will be sown on a nutrient-enriched paper filter, and germination will be induced by exposure to sunlight. The experiment aims to test the feasibility that, if lunar bases are installed, astronauts can produce their own food while inhabiting the site.

The project will also help scientists assess whether it is ever possible for life forms to survive in the lunar environment. As they explained, if plants can withstand the low gravity and high radiation conditions of the satellite, it is very likely that humans can too.

The seeds will be sent through a robotic commercial spaceship that must be built as part of a competition called the Google Lunar X Prize. The experiment of sending seeds to the moon is a huge step in paving the way so that one day humans can live and work on the surface of the satellite and perhaps even colonize it in the future.