Growing flowers on the Moon: Possible or Impossible?

A team of scientists associated with the European Space Agency (ESA) has claimed that they are convinced that marigolds can grow in crushed rock similar to the lunar surface, with no need for plant food.

The new research by European Space Agency�s scientists was presented at the meeting of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) meeting held in Vienna, Austria. This is the largest annual European congregation of scientists who study the Earth, its climate and Earth�s neighbours in space.

While some experts look at growing plants on the Moon as a step towards human habitation, a senior official of the European Space Agency remarked that the �concept is not an official aim of ESA� and dismissed the idea of growing plants on the Moon as �science fiction.�

Bernard Foing, a senior scientist with the European Space Research and Technology Centre (Estec) in the Netherlands, was quoted by BBC as saying, �I believe that growing plants on the Moon would be a useful as a tool to learn how life adapts to lunar conditions, and as a practical aid to establishing manned bases. We would bring a system of water circulation and recovery, which is also the type of system that in any case you want to develop when you are going to manufacture a primitive sort of life support system. So it is also a kind of �technological breadboard� for maintaining a simple life form in an extreme environment.�

The scientists of the European Space Agency believe the next step is to eliminate the need for bringing nutrients and soil from Earth.

In a previous experiment, a team of researchers led by Natasha Kozyrovska and Iryna Zaetz from the National Academy of Sciences in Kiev, capital of Ukraine, had planted marigolds in crushed anorthosite, a type of rock found on Earth which is very similar to much of the lunar surface. In neat anorthosite, the plants fared very badly, but adding different types of bacteria made them thrive � the bacteria seemed to draw elements from the rock that the plants needed, such as potassium.

Bernard Foing, who presented the study at the European Geosciences Union meeting, told BBC that �there is no reason in principle why the same idea could not bear fruit on the Moon itself. Tools could crush lunar rock and add bacteria and seeds.�

However, Foing added, scientists needed to go further, by choosing plants or bacteria that are especially well adapted to lunar conditions, or even by genetically engineering new strains.