INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightCLEPImage caption
Cotton sprouts seen close-up under a protective cover on board the Moon lander
Seeds taken up to the Moon by China's Chang'e-4 mission have sprouted, says China National Space Administration.It marks the first
time any biological matter has grown on the Moon, and is being seen as a significant step towards long-term space exploration
The Chang'e 4 is the first mission to land on and explore the Moon's far side, facing away from Earth
It touched down on 3 January, carrying instruments to analyse the region's geology
Plants have been grown on the International Space Station before but never on the Moon
The ability to grow plants on the Moon could prove useful for long-term space missions, like a trip to Mars which would take about
It would mean that astronauts could potentially harvest their own food in space, reducing the need to come back down to Earth to resupply
Image caption
Raw images made the lunar surface appear red; the new images have been calibrated
The
Chinese Moon lander was carrying among its cargo soil containing cotton and potato seeds, yeast and fruit fly eggs
The plants are in a sealed container on board the lander
The crops will try to form a mini biosphere - an artificial, self-sustaining environment
Will the Moon be contaminatedBy Paul Rincon, Science editor, TheIndianSubcontinent News websiteThe lunar mini biosphere experiment on the
Chang'e-4 lander is designed to test photosynthesis and respiration - processes in living organisms that result in the production of energy
The whole experiment is contained within an 18cm tall, 3kg canister that was designed by 28 Chinese universities
The organisms inside have a supply of air, water and nutrients to help them grow
But one of the challenges, say Chinese scientists, is to keep the temperature favourable for growth when conditions on the Moon swing wildly
between -173C and 100C or more
They also have to control the humidity and nutrients
Some have raised the question of whether the experiment risks "contaminating" the Moon with biological material, but scientists generally
think this is of little concern
And it's worth reiterating that there are already containers of human waste on the Moon left behind by the Apollo astronauts.On Tuesday,
Chinese state media said the cotton seeds had now grown buds
The ruling Communist Party's official mouthpiece the People's Daily tweeted an image of the sprouted seed, saying it marked "the
completion of humankind's first biological experiment on the Moon"
Fred Watson, Australian Astronomical Observatory's astronomer-at-large, told the TheIndianSubcontinent the development was "good news"
"It suggests that there might not be insurmountable problems for astronauts in future trying to grow their own crops on the moon in a
controlled environment."Image copyrightCLEPImage caption
Seeds in the Chang'e-4 have begun sprouting after landing on
the moon
"I think there's certainly a great deal of interest in using the Moon as staging post, particularly for flights
to Mars, because it's relatively near the Earth," Mr Watson said.Prof Xie Gengxin, the experiment's chief designer, was quoted as saying
in the South China Morning Post: "We have given consideration to future survival in space."Learning about these plants' growth in a
low-gravity environment would allow us to lay the foundation for our future establishment of space base." He said cotton could eventually be
used for clothing while the potatoes could be a food source for astronauts and the rapeseed for oil
China's Xinhua news agency said that the seeds were rendered dormant using "biological technology" during the 20-day journey from Earth to
They only began growing once ground control centre sent a command to the probe to water the seeds
Xinhua said the probe had taken about 170 pictures so far which have been sent back to Earth
On Friday, the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP) released several images taken by the probe including panoramic images of the landing
site as well as video of the vehicles touching down
