Chang’e-4 is due to launch later this class and if all move to plan , it will be the first lunar investigation to tinge down on the dark side of the Moon . Perhaps even more excitingly , it will also be thevery first attempt to grow flowerson the Moon ’s surface .
This is all part of China ’s “ mini - biosphere project ” , lead by Chongqing University .
" We need to take the respiration of the seed and the photosynthesis on the Moon , " Liu Hanlong , principal director of the experimentation and vice president of Chongqing University , toldreporters .
The team hopes the mission will provide utilitarian intel that could one twenty-four hours help us set up a colony on the Moon .
" Our experiment might help accumulate knowledge for building a lunar cornerstone and foresightful - full term abidance on the Moon , " Liu add .
In December , white potato vine and genus Arabidopsis ( a penis of the mustard syndicate ) seeds will be place in an aluminum admixture tin valuate just 18 cm ( 7 inches ) by 16 centimeters ( 6 in ) before gimp a lift on the lunar lander and rover . The tin will also carry silkworm cocoons , piddle , airwave , soil , and electrical equipment to record the experimentation .
Once it ’s give its destination , a tube inside the tin will divert natural light from the airfoil of the Moon and onto the seedlings , activate photosynthesis . The plants will give out atomic number 8 , feeding the silkworm who in tour exhale C dioxide and leave waste , feeding the plants .
" Why tater and Arabidopsis ? Because the growth period of Arabidopsis is short and commodious to follow . And white potato could become a major author of food for future blank travelers , " said Liu . ( Thoughsweet potatoesmay make better alternatives . )
The whole experimentation will be captured on motion picture and transmitted back to Earth where us Earthlings can watch it on a live current .
While the team faces many challenge , sunlight is n’t one of them . The " dark " side of the Moon was so named because it is not seeable to us from Earth but it ’s actually a flake of a misnomer . It receives just as much sunlight as the seeable side . More problematic is the Moon ’s gravity , which is just 16 percent of what we experience on our aristocratic planet .
Another major challenge is the climate , particularly the extreme temperature , which could be a dying sand trap to plants used to a more balmy Earth . On the Moon , temperature can go up to more than 100 ° C ( 212 ° F ) and plummet below -100 ° C ( -148 ° F ) , so the team will be controlling the mini biosphere to keep temperature between 1 and 30 ° C ( 34 and 86 ° F ) .
Technically , astronauts have develop plants in infinite before – on theInternational Space Stationand in China’sTiangong-2 space lab – but this will be the first meter plants are cultivated on the Moon ’s surface .
