BEIJING – China is planning to send seeds of potato, a flowering plant andsilkworm eggs with its Chang’e-4 lunar probe later this year to conduct thefirst biological experiment on the lifeless Moon.
The probe will carry a tin containing seeds of potato and arabidopsis, asmall flowering plant related to cabbage and mustard, and probably somesilkworm eggs to conduct the first biological experiment on the Moon,state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday.
The “lunar mini biosphere” experiment was designed by 28 Chineseuniversities, led by southwest China’s Chongqing University, a conferenceon scientific and technological innovation of Chongqing Municipality hasheard.
The cylindrical tin, made from special aluminium alloy materials, is 18 cmtall, with a diameter of 16 cm, a net volume of 0.8 liters and a weight of3 kilogrammes.
The tin will also contain water, a nutrient solution, air and equipmentsuch as a small camera and data transmission system. Researchers hope theseeds will grow to blossom on the Moon, with the process captured on cameraand transmitted to Earth.
Although astronauts have cultivated plants on the International SpaceStation, and rice and arabidopsis were grown on China’s Tiangong-2 spacelab, those experiments were conducted in low-Earth orbit, at an altitude ofabout 400 kms. The environment on the Moon, 380,000 kilometers from theEarth, is more complicated.
Liu Hanlong, chief director of the experiment and vice president ofChongqing University, said since the Moon has no atmosphere, itstemperature ranges from lower than minus 100 degrees centigrade to higherthan 100 degrees centigrade.
“We have to keep the temperature in the ‘mini biosphere’ within a rangefrom 1 degree to 30 degrees, and properly control the humidity andnutrition. We will use a tube to direct the natural light on the surface ofMoon into the tin to make the plants grow,” said Xie Gengxin, chiefdesigner of the experiment.
“We want to study the respiration of the seeds and the photosynthesis onthe Moon,” said Liu.