SKY Mission to grow Moon- base grub
BRITAIN is helping Chinese scientists to grow food on the Moon.
Experts aim to build greenhouses on a lunar base to provide carrots, onion, basil, wheat, sweet potatoes and garlic for astronauts on missions there.
Professor Javier Martín- Torres from the University of Aberdeen, who was an advisor on 2015 sci- fi film The Martian, is in charge of the British end of the mission.
The Martian starred Matt Damon as an astronaut who is stranded on the planet and grows potatoes to survive.
Prof Martín- Torres said: “If you go to the Moon or Mars, you have to look at a greenhouse where you can grow plants which you can use to feed astronauts.
“In these places, there is no oxygen and you have a lot of ultraviolet radiation that will kill the plants so you have to have an environment that is controlled.
“The problem with the
Moon and Mars is how expensive it is to produce resources there.
“At some point, we want to colonise the Moon and
Mars – in the sense of having a base for astronauts there – so will need to know how to produce resources there.
“This is why producing oxygen, water, fuel is very important.”
The first lunar greenhouses are likely to go into space in 2023 or 2024 on board the unmanned Chang’e 6 lunar mission.
Once the plan succeeds on the Moon, the next step would be a manned mission to Mars. But there is concern among Western military chiefs over China’s expansion plans.
The greenhouses that will go to the Moon are not like the ones found in people’s back gardens.
Called Gaspar – it stands for Gaseous Atmospheres in Space: Production, Adaptation and Resources – they cost £ 100,000 each.
Prof Martín- Torres said studies showed seeds “can grow very easily in Martian soil simulant”.