The Chinese have successfully begun to colonize the moon. So, at the beginning of this year, for the first time in history, the Chang’e-4 interplanetary spacecraft made a soft landing on the far side of the Moon. On the surface of the moon, he delivered the Chinese lunar rover “Yuytu-2”. And also – an airtight container with seeds and living organisms.
The container contained cotton, potato, rapeseed, arabidopsis (i.e. watercress) seeds, yeast, and fruit flies. All these seeds were needed to conduct a unique experiment to create a closed biosphere outside the Earth.
The seeds of the plants were transported to the moon in an 18-centimeter container, which also contained soil, water, air, and fruit fly eggs. The container was equipped with a special system, thanks to which a comfortable temperature and light level were maintained.
The seeds of potatoes, rapeseed and cotton sprout successfully. First of all, the shoots yielded cotton seeds. After that, rapeseed and potatoes came up.
The success of this mission is critical to survival in outer space. So, in the future, potatoes will be able to provide astronauts with food, rapeseed will be a source of oil, while cotton can be used to make clothes.
And the rest of the seeds are needed for scientific experiments.
Now scientists want to test the viability of closed ecosystems in which larvae will produce carbon dioxide, and plants will convert it to oxygen through photosynthesis.