Exciting news from a research team in Kent! They’ve shown that you can actually grow tea in lunar soil, a breakthrough that could help future astronauts have fresh food while living on the moon.
Partnering with Dartmoor Tea, Lightcurve Films, and Europlanet, the project, led by Professor Nigel Mason and Dr. Sara Lopez-Gomollon, placed tea saplings in specially created soils that mimic what’s found on the moon and Mars. Over several weeks, they carefully observed how these plants thrived compared to a control group planted in regular Devon soil. They even controlled temperature, humidity, and lighting to recreate space-like conditions.
The results? The tea plants in lunar soil did great, taking root and growing just as healthily as those in the regular soil. However, the plants placed in simulated Martian soil struggled to survive.
Students Anna-Maria Wirth and Florence Grant analyzed important factors like soil moisture, nutrient levels, pH balance, root length, and leaf health. They’re gearing up to share their findings at Europe’s inaugural Space Agriculture Workshop in Bratislava, Slovakia this week.
This project sparked after Maarten Roos-Serote from Lightcurve Films discovered the ongoing work at Kent’s School of Natural Sciences during a European Planetary Science Congress. Having previously grown tea plants in Portugal to set up baseline growth standards, he connected with Jo Harper from Dartmoor Tea to source the ideal tea plants for the study.
The research has broader implications, too. While the goal was to explore crop growth on the moon and Mars, the insights gained could help scientists understand how to cultivate crops in poor soils on Earth. This is especially relevant as our planet grapples with climate change and over-farming challenges.
Professor Mason pointed out, “We’re entering a new era in space exploration where building bases on the moon or Mars is becoming a reality. One of the first questions will be about food options. These findings suggest we could grow earth-based plants like tea in moon greenhouses, giving astronauts some independence and access to fresh food, tapping into the comforting routine of a tea break even in space!”
Dr. Lopez-Gomollon added, “The project results are very promising, showing that we can grow tea in lunar soils. Next, we aim to dive deeper into the plant’s biology in these conditions to optimize growth and potentially apply this understanding to other crops. It’s a thrilling step as we consider not just sending astronauts to the moon, but making it livable for extended missions. Our insights on how plants respond to stress on Earth could also directly benefit agriculture back home.”
Jo Harper from Dartmoor Tea expressed, “We’re thrilled to be a part of this study! Our experience with growing tea in non-traditional environments has already helped improve our cultivation practices here in Devon, and it holds promise for benefits across the broader tea industry.”
Article provided by the University of Kent.
This story was originally published on Phys.org.
