An creative person ’s conception of an Artemis cosmonaut deploy an cat’s-paw on the lunar surface . NASA
It was almost a decade ago when astronaut aboard the International Space Station sit down for a repast of historical significance as it was the first to include food — albeit only lettuce — raise and harvest in space .
Fast forwards to recent times , and the technology for civilise leafy vegetables aboard the orbital outpostcontinues to better . This is good news for NASA as it seeks ways to keep spaceman fed and water on next deep - quad missions that will be unable to hold bombastic solid food supplies .
An artist’s concept of an Artemis astronaut deploying an instrument on the lunar surface.NASA
This workweek , NASA announcedits latest design for experimental solid food - emergence system , revealing that it will send the Lunar Effects on Agricultural Flora ( LEAF ) experiment to the Sun Myung Moon as part of the Artemis III crewed mission , which is presently scheduled for 2026
LEAF , created by Colorado - ground Space Lab Technologies , will inquire the lunar surface environment ’s effects on space crops and be the first experiment to observe plant photosynthesis , growth , and systemic stress responses in space radiation and partial gravitation , NASA state .
The LEAF Beta payload , which feature a plant growth sleeping accommodation with an apart atm , will protect the plant inside it from undue lunar sunlight , radiation , and the vacuum of place while observing their photosynthesis , growth , and reply to stress , grant to Space Lab . After about a workweek on the lunar surface , the astronaut will work back the seedling samples for elaborate analytic thinking in research lab conditions . It wo n’t be the first time plants have been grow on the lunar surface asChina grew a cotton plant plantthere in a short - live experiment in 2019 .
Christine Escobar , Space Lab vice president , draw the approaching enquiry as “ a pivotal step toward read how we might use agriculture in distance to plump for human work party , pave the room for sustained lunar exploration and even missions to Mars . ”
NASA also selected two more scientific discipline experiments for the Artemis III mission . The Lunar Environment Monitoring Station ( LEMS ) is a compact , self-governing seismometer suite for long - terminal figure monitoring of the moon ’s seismic surround , while the Lunar Dielectric Analyzer ( LDA ) will appraise the power of lunar soil to broadcast an electric subject , which could help the search for resources , especially ice .
