Another small step: China to plant potatoes on the moon

CHINA hopes to create a “mini-biosphere” on the dark side of the moon, with flowers and silkworms sustaining each other as they grow on the lunar surface.

The unprecedented plan to create life off Earth is the most intriguing part of China’s lunar probe mission later this year, and could be a major boost for the dream that humans will one day live on the moon.

The insects, plants, potato seeds and arabidopsis, a small flowering plant belonging to the mustard family, will be taken to the moon on board the Chang’e-4 lander and rover in December.

They will be placed in a 7in tall bucket-like tin made from special aluminium alloy materials, together with water, a nutrient solution, and a small camera and data transmission system.

A small tube will direct natural sunlight into the tin to help the plants and potato seeds grow. Although known figuratively as the “dark side” as it is unseen, the far side of the moon receives almost equal sunlight to the near side.

In the next stage of the mini-ecological system the plants will emit oxygen, which will feed the silkworms hatching from their cocoons. The silkworms will then create carbon dioxide and produce waste that will allow the plants to grow, Chinese scientists say.

“Our experiment might help accumulate knowledge for building a lunar base and long-term residence on the moon,” Prof Liu Hanlong, chief director of the experiment and vice-president of Chongqing University, told Xinhua news agency.

Astronauts have previously grown plants in the International Space Station, while Chinese “taikonauts” grew rice and arabidopsis in China’s Tiangong-2 space lab. But those experiments were conducted in low-earth orbit at an altitude of about 250 miles (400km).

“The environment on the moon, 380,000 kilometres from the Earth, is more complicated,” Xinhua said.

The moon’s gravity is only about 16 per cent of the Earth’s – which is considered a major barrier to the success of the project. The development of living organisms would also be at risk from the climate on the moon, where temperatures range from lower than -148F (-100C) to higher than 212F (100C).