Cotton plants sprouting on the moon... well done China!

[Jonk]

China's Moon mission sees first seeds sprout http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-46873526

With this news in mind, I would like to formally patent the phrases "moonwear" and "lunapparel"!

 

[LukeSkywatcher]

Fruit fly eggs? 

Oh that's gonna come back and bite us on the backside. 20 ft tall fruit flies asking us to take them to our leader.

[John]

Apparently the green shoot will not survive the lunar night as temperatures will drop to -170c. The vegetation and the fly eggs will decompose natrually within their canister according to mission scientists. So thats another 1st for this mission - the 1st lunar compost !

 

 

[JOC]

I'm not sure if growing things like the seeds and fruit fly eggs on the moon is really a good thing.  I wonder who gave China permission to take them up there, is there not an international committee who take charge of such things of world wide importance.  The moon is really a pristine environment and should have been kept that way imo.  NASA should certainly have removed their waste too.  If 'take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but footprints' applies in a SSSI it should certainly apply on the moon!

[Moonshane]

If you assume that the survival of Homo sapiens is desirable, the need to develop horticulture (and insects) on the moon is pretty integral and is a decent place to start testing things.

I doubt they are breaking any laws given they are not on Earth.

[whipdry]

Gonna be expensive getting those dust carts up there! 

[LukeSkywatcher]

Clean up on crater 7

[barkis]

Sorry to report this, but those poor seedlings have perished.   I really cannot understand what other outcome was hoped for really. Harsh environment doesn't adequately describe the lunar environment as far as being conducive to plant growth. No doubt conditions can be engineered sometime way in the future.                 More hope in that direction on the Red Planet perhaps.    

Sad outcome of course, but the result was a huge odds on certainty. ? 

Ron.

 

[JamesF]

It's an experiment.  Even if the plants died earlier than expected, if useful data has been obtained then it can be considered successful.  I feel certain they knew, or at least were aware of the possibility that the plants would die fairly quickly, but if they now understand why then next time it can be done better.

James

[Moonshane]

They obviously need hardy perennials. ?

[Mr Spock]

We need to know if we can grow stuff on the moon. If in the future we have moon colonies they are going to have to grow their own food; it's too expensive to shuttle food up there.

[barkis]

Just to be a bit whimsical if I may, Matt Damon managed to grow Tatties and  other Veg. on Mars, but  he managed
  to construct a habitat of sorts to give them at least fighting chance of Suck Seeding. I jest with this expression of course.

I'm not naive enough to suggest mankind won't ever make the moon habitable for himself, including the ability to grow
his own food, and produce other necessities,including fuel to support the intended  Exploration further afield.
It is all way ahead in time, but if the will is powerfully enough, then who knows what lay ahead.

[wimvb]

Apparently the chinese never listened to CCR:

Oh, when them cotton bolls get rotten
You can't pick very much cotton
In them old cotton fields back home

[maw lod qan]

6 minutes ago, wimvb said:

Apparently the chinese never listened to CCR:

Oh, when them cotton bolls get rotten
You can't pick very much cotton
In them old cotton fields back home

Oh my, someone from my era. 

As much as I congratulate them on their lunar sucess. I worry when a country like China starts doing experiments for "all mankind."

To follow wimvb, 

I see a bad moon rising!