First Plant On Moon

Searching life on the other planets or space objects is the major target of any space organization in current world of technology. For this purpose, the various experiments are being carried out at the International Space Station. There is always hope that maybe sometime, the life will be supported by the atmosphere of the Mars and the Moon. Though the manned based space programs for the moon, have come to halt, but the plant can grace the moon’s surface with its greenery (Draxler, 2013). It could help a lot, as payload will be reduced because the crew will be able to grow food for themselves (Castielli, 2013).

Before any experiment should be carried out, it is necessary that the plant life experiment must be carried out in the International Space Organization (ISO), so that its growth cycle can be seen in the extreme conditions. There is need of this experiment so that discoveries can be carried out in the ISO about the life cycle of the plant in space so that the plant life can become possible in the space as well like on Mars and Moon (Castielli, 2013). All these things will have long term benefits for the humankind in the future.

NASA has disclosed the intentions for the plant growth experiment in 2013 only and planned for that to happen in 2015 for the moon. The scientists of NASA named this experiment as ‘Lunar Plant Growth Habitat’. It is the miniature form of the greenhouse. In fact, it was sealed container which contains the thing that can support the plant like. This coffee’s can sized container contained the soil, nutrients, water, and air which are required to support the growth of the plant (Castielli, 2013).

This experiment was carried out to determine whether the plant can germinate in the partial gravity or extremely controlled conditions. If this project comes out to be successful, then surely, there will be other proceedings of the plan. The seeds for this experiment has been taken according to their germination period i.e. which has quick germination cycle like Sunflower, Basils etc. There were cameras and sensors in the can so that its growth can be seen, and moreover, this experiment was budget friendly (Castielli, 2013).  But this experiment wasn’t carried out in the outer space as it was planned for 2015.

There are two reasons for choosing the Moon rather than Mars for this experiment. First, it is the nearest neighbor of the Earth in the outer space so, transport problem can be solved easily and the other is, despite having extreme conditions, the Moon has the environment that may support the plant life on the moon. There are so many missions that are going just to find the way to have life forms on the other planets that are being funded privately.

China is also trying to have firmed feet in the deep space exploration. China’s Chang’e 4 Moon Lander is the first experiment that has touch down the moon’s surface for the experiment of the plant growth. It has been reported that Cotton Seeds have sprouted on the lunar surface in this experiment (Gohd, 2019). Apart from this experiment, this spacecraft has also carried a number of instruments to study the lunar topography and geology of the crater i.e. Von Kármán where the spacecraft has landed softly (Gohd, 2019). The other plants that have been chosen for the experiment are the fruit fly eggs and the yeast (Gohd, 2019). But after days of the experiment, the cotton plant is found dead. The reason for this has been given that the temperature has risen to the extreme extents that cannot support the life forms like seeds and eggs (Yong Xiong and Ben Westcott, CNN, 2019).

Though this experiment has got failed, new things always emerge from the mistakes. The mistakes in this experiment will result in the better findings in the next experiment. There are many things which would help every space organization to learn from this experiment. One day, the goal to have the life on the other planets and moon will surely be realized, just there is a need to put more efforts in this.