China Has Grown Cotton On The Far Side Of Moon, And It's The 1st Country In The World To Do It
On January 6 this year, China made history by not only getting to the Moon for the first time, but also being the first to get to the far side of it. Now, the country¡¯s lander has succeeded in another task, beginning to grow plants on the Moon.
On January 6 this year, China made history by not only getting to the Moon for the first time, but also being the first to get to the far side of it.
Now, the country's lander has succeeded in another miraculous task, beginning to grow plants on the Moon.
A simulation of the Chang'e-4 lander - AFP
Though the Chang'e-4 lander's main mission was to land on and study the far side of the Moon, another secondary mission is had was to attempt to grow flowering plants on our planetary satellite, to see if humans would ever be able to farm there as part of a colonisation effort.
Also Read: 50 Years On, This Iconic Photo Of Earth From The Moon Shows We Have Only One Planet To Live On
The lander has on board a 3 kg canister filled with six different biological species that it will attempt to cultivate. Those include seeds for cotton, rapeseed, potato, and Arabidopsis, as well as Fruit fly eggs and yeast. Altogether, these form their own tiny ecosystem.
First in human history: A cotton seed brought to the moon by China's Chang'e 4 probe has sprouted, the latest test photo has shown, marking the completion of humankind's first biological experiment on the moon pic.twitter.com/CSSbgEoZmC
¡ª People's Daily, China (@PDChina) January 15, 2019
Soon after the Chang'e-4 landed, the experiment was initiated and the seeds given water. Now, China has released photos of the payload taken January 7, which show their cotton seeds sprouting. Alongside it are photos of cotton plants being grown on Earth as control experiments. The Moon plants show markedly less growth, but the fact that there is any at all is scientific achievement. Unfortunately, according to China's official state-run news agency Xinhua, none of the other species seem to be growing.
A photo from the Chang'e-4 of the far side of the Moon
The achievement has attracted a lot of response on social media channels like Twitter, from celebrating it as yet another milestone in mankind's quest to colonize space to other musings.
Hell yeah. Check the tag, 100% cotton. Made on the Moon.
¡ª Office Junkie (@MuggleButt) January 15, 2019
Seedlings in space! First-ever cotton plant on the Moon growing in #ChangE4 mini biosphere https://t.co/YoCaesBzlA pic.twitter.com/6CQpJ35MRu
¡ª XHscitech (@XHscitech) January 15, 2019
China is out there, literally growing cotton on the moon and we are sat here liking a picture of an egg?!?! COME ON PEOPLE, we gotta think big picture here.......We gotta get this egg to the moon guys.
¡ª Ben Bruce (@benjaminbruce) January 16, 2019
Plants have been grown in space before, with things like lettuce and sunflowers being grown on the International Space Station. However, this is the first time plants are being grown in a lunar environment. That means they have to contend with a sixth of Earth's gravity, extreme temperature variations, and much more radiation.
And yet, we now have plant life on the Moon.
