Space agencies, including NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), are advancing plans to send astronauts back to the Moon, marking a significant return to lunar exploration since the Apollo missions over fifty years ago. The challenge of sustaining human life on the Moon involves ensuring a reliable supply of food, water, and materials, as resupply missions from Earth are lengthy and complex. Recent research indicates that astronauts may soon be able to grow their own tea on lunar soil, enhancing long-term sustainability for future missions.
To address the challenges of deep space missions, these agencies are developing technologies that focus on In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU). This approach aims to utilize local resources for vital needs such as water, building materials, and food. Water ice, abundant in the Moon’s southern polar craters, can be converted into both drinking water and propellant. Research from the University of Kent has demonstrated that plants, including tea leaves, can thrive in lunar soil simulant.
The study, led by Professor Nigel Mason and Dr. Sara Lopez-Gomollon, involved a collaboration with Dartmoor Estate Tea, Lightcurve Films, and Europlanet. The project was initiated when Maarten Roos-Serote, a freelance planetary scientist, attended a presentation at the European Planetary Science Congress, which highlighted the university’s research on space agriculture.
Jo Harper, co-founder of Dartmoor Estate Tea, provided the tea plants for the experiment. The researchers planted saplings in lunar and Martian soil simulants and monitored the plants’ growth over several weeks, comparing their progress to a control group planted in Devonian soil. The team controlled environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, and light to imitate conditions typical of a space habitat.
The findings were promising. Both groups of tea plants in lunar soil simulant established root systems and grew similarly to the control group, while those in Martian soil did not survive. This research is particularly timely as astronauts prepare for missions to the Moon under the Artemis Program, while crewed missions to Mars are still decades away.
The implications of this research extend beyond space exploration. Understanding how plants can grow in extraterrestrial soil may also inform strategies for cultivating crops in inhospitable environments on Earth. With climate change and overfarming posing significant threats to agriculture, the insights gained from this study could help restore degraded lands and improve soil viability.
Looking ahead, Dr. Lopez-Gomollon emphasized the importance of examining the physiological responses of plants grown in lunar soil simulants. This research could lead to similar experiments with a broader range of crops, enhancing the potential for sustainable food production in space.
The research team presented their findings at Europe’s first space agriculture workshop held in Bratislava, Slovakia, furthering the dialogue on the future of food in space and its potential benefits for Earthly agriculture. The continued exploration of how to cultivate food in space not only supports upcoming lunar missions but also addresses critical issues faced by farmers worldwide.
