Europe to plant first flower on the moon, Mooninites rejoice; Earthlings doomed. Options

[zetec]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4895610.stm





schwaaaaaaaaa

[nickluto]

hmm... maybe i missed something but i didn't realize plants could live in a vacuum

Well, all plants really need to survive is carbon dioxide, sunlight, water, and nutrients, so if you built a greenhouse (an airtight container to keep the CO2 from floating off into space), it's possible. The plants they were talking about said that they "bring their own nutrients with them" whatever the hell that means.

It's interesting because plants both consume carbon dioxide and produce it (along with oxygen) so it could be self-sustaining (like the terrarium you built in elementary school). Why it is worth building a terrarium on the moon when you can just use a 2 liter coke bottle? You got me. So Europe can say they did something in space before America? It would be interesting to see how the plants grow with 1/6th the gravity, but thats pretty much it.

The only real problem i see is from the ambient temperature of the moon which fluxuates between -170 and 120C, which would obviously freeze/boil any water the plant would need to stay alive, so they would have to build a temperature controlled greenhouse for the plants (which you'd think would be difficult without manned mission) , or come up with a similar chemical gel with a higher boiling point and a lower freezing point that would allow the plant to photosynthesize.

In either case, I think they already have this part figured out. They wouldn't be investing millions of dollars to research astrophysics and develop technology if they didnt think the entire basis for the mission was possible.