European Space Agency (ESA) is looking into the possibility of farming on the Moon. A new ESA Discovery project led by Norway's Solsys Mining is looking for ways to create fertilizers and grow plans in the lunar soil.
European Space Agency (ESA) To Start Farming On The Moon?
ESA researchers want to farm on the moon. The good thing about this is that the lunar samples returned to Earth showed promising results.
It has nitrogen molecules, and sufficient critical minerals to promote plant growth. However, the challenging part is that lunar soil (also known as "regolith") becomes denser when there is water present, which hinders plant germination and root development.
But ESA already has a potential solution - hydroponic farming. This alternative offers a useful substitute by eliminating the need for soil by providing plant roots with nutrient-rich water directly. Nonetheless, there is still a chance to use lunar regolith based on "in-situ resource utilization," or foraging for food.
According to USDA National Agricultural Library, hydroponics grow plants using a water-based nutrient solution rather than soil. It can include an aggregate substrate, or growing media, such as vermiculite, coconut coir, or perlite. This technique has been used by small farmers, hobbyists and commercial enterprises.
USDA added that growing plants in water culture or sand cultures without the use of soil is not new at all as it has been used by physiologists studying plant nutrition and by other plant scientists for over 100 years already.
How Will ESA Do Moon Farming?
In order to extract mineral nutrients from the regolith, a combination of mechanical, chemical, and biological processes are being investigated as part of the "Enabling Lunar In-Situ Agriculture by Producing Fertilizer from Beneficiated Regolith" project, which is being led by Solsys Mining in collaboration with Norway's Geotechnical Institute (NGI) and Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Space (CIRiS). Before usage, valuable components could need to be concentrated, while unwanted components would be eliminated.
The mechanical sorting region for the regolith may be seen on the left of this artist's rendering, going through to the center module for more sophisticated processing, like chemical leaching. The final nutrients would be collected, dissolved in water, and then fed to the hydroponic garden.
According to Malgorzata Holynska, ESA materials and processes engineer, this effort is crucial for long-term lunar exploration in the future. Using nearby resources and acquiring access to nutrients available in lunar regolith that may be used to grow plants are necessary for maintaining a sustainable presence on the Moon.
The current study serves as a proof of concept utilizing commercially available lunar regolith simulants, paving the way for future, more in-depth research.
The Solsys Mining crew is upbeat since they have already grown beans using a nutrition supply modeled after lunar highland regolith.
The initiative originated as a suggestion made through the ESA's Open Space Innovation Platform, which was looking for fresh, innovative concepts for space research. The ESA's Basic Activities' Discovery section is currently paying for it.
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