University of Texas Institute of Geophysics
Chickpea variety ‘Myles’. Its compact size and strength allow for agricultural production in mission environments with limited space.
Advancement could pave the way for fresh food production on the Moon in future long-duration space missions. Vermicompost could be produced from leftover food, clothing or hygiene products.
As NASA prepares the Artemis II mission and plans a return to the Moon, scientists are looking for an answer to a question: how to feed the astronauts on these prolonged missions?
A new study from the University of Texas has just put an ingredient on travelers’ menus: chickpea.
The research, out Thursday in Scientific Reports, describes, for the first time, the production of this culture on a substrate that reproduces the characteristics of the loose material that covers the lunar surface. That regolithdespite containing minerals useful to plants, it is not soil, in the terrestrial sense of the term: it does not contain organic matter or microorganisms, fundamental elements for plant growth, and it contains heavy metals that can even harm the development of crops.
But Exolith Labs researchers turned to a simulated version of this “lunar soil”, based on data on samples collected in the Apollo missions, and enriched it with vermicompostgenerated by red earthworms from the decomposition of organic waste, and which provides nutrients and beneficial microorganisms.
In a space context, this vermicompost could be produced from organic waste from the mission itself, such as food scraps, cotton clothing or hygiene products.
Before sowing, chickpea seeds were coated with fungi arbuscular mycorrhizalorganisms that establish a symbiotic relationship with plant roots. These fungi help with the absorption of nutrients and can reduce the incorporation of heavy metals.
According to , the tests showed that the plants were able to grow in substrates with up to 75% simulated lunar regolith — at higher concentrations, development became more difficult and many plants died prematurely. But, even in adverse conditions, the plants treated with fungi survived longer than the rest.
The researchers also found that the fungi were able to establish themselves and persist in the substrate, suggesting that, in a real lunar farming system, they might only have to be introduced once.
Despite the success of the harvest, a fundamental question remains whether these chickpeas would be safe and nutritious for human consumption. The next phase of the work will be to assess the possible absorption of harmful metals and measure the nutritional value of the crop. The main objective is to understand whether this food can, in fact, be part of the diet of astronauts on future lunar bases.
