|
Nasa is to try growing vegetables and herbs on the moon to see if humans could one day live there. The US space agency plans to send seeds to the moon in 2017 in sealed canisters containing everything that is needed for the seedlings to thrive. As well as ten seeds each of basil and turnips, there will also be around 100 seeds of Arabidopsis, a small flowering plant related to cabbage and mustard. On landing, a trigger will release a small reservoir of water inside the canister and a team on Earth will monitor how the seeds germinate when exposed to lunar gravity and radiation. A group of scientists, students and volunteers - known as the Lunar Plant Growth Habitat team - are behind the project which will see the seedlings photographed at intervals to compare with those planted on earth. | 
