When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.Could lunar farms be in our future?. | Credit: Getty ImagesA combination of fungi and compost could make lunar regolith more fertile and one day help astronauts grow crops on the moon, according to new research based around experiments with chickpea plants.Future outposts on the moon will need to be as self-sufficient as possible to avoid the high cost of constantly shuttling supplies from Earth. If crops can be grown on the Moon it would be a significant step toward this.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe problem is that the dirt on the moon — what we call regolith — isn’t particularly good for growing plants.Unlike soil on Earth, which is full of organic matter, regolith contains no microorganisms and no organic material in general. And, while it does contain some vital nutrients, it is also full of toxic metals such as aluminum, copper and zinc. Moreover, it isn’t particularly permeable to water — a problem for when you want to water your crops.So, scientists are aiming to treat lunar regolith to try and make it more conducive to growing plants in. This has led to numerous experiments. Now, a team of scientists has discovered a new mixture incorporating organic materials typically used for soil regeneration on Earth that increase the fertility of the regolith.”The research is about understanding the viability of growing crops on the moon,” said study leader Sara Santos of the University of Texas in a statement. “How do we transform this regolith into soil? What kinds of natural mechanisms can cause this conversion?”AdvertisementAdvertisementWhen conducting experiments with lunar regolith, scientists use simulants, which are artificial mixtures designed to be as close to the real thing as possible. That’s because samples of real lunar regolith are rare and scientifically precious.In their experiment, Santos’ team added differing concentrations of vermicompost to multiple samples of a simulant based on real regolith brought back to Earth by the Apollo missions. Vermicompost is a compost produced by red wiggler worms that like to decompose biowaste, such as food scraps, hygiene products and cotton clothing, recycling the …
