A Plant On China's Chang'e-4 Sprouted, But It Died

Do you remember the Chinese lander whose mission was to grow plants on the far side of the Moon?

Right now, the Chang’e-4 launched by CNSA is exploring the Moon’s far side that never faces our Earth. The Moon lander also carry along some odd payload – some plants.

On Tuesday, Xinhua announced that one of the plants sprouted, the news agency released several photos of its progress over nine days as well as a seedling inside the habitat.

However, the experiment soon ended, with another announcement from Xinhua on the same day.

The Chang’e-4 landed on its destination in early January.

Recalling this experiment, scientists from China’s Chongqing University tried to create a small ecosystem by developing a biosphere habitat including seeds, yeast, and fruit fly eggs and send the sealed package to the Moon.

Among cotton seed, potato seed, and oilseed rape seed, only the first one sprouted.

In a video shared by Xinhua, you can also spot a simulated seedling growth test conducted on Earth. So, we cannot tell if those photos are from the Chang’e-4 or from this test, CNSA hasn’t clarified.

To serve the Moon mission, CNSA picked out the yeast, flies, and seeds based on the ability to resist low gravity, extreme temperature range, and intense radiation on the planet.

Xie Gengxin, the chief designer of the experiment, said that life in the canister would not make it through its first night on the Moon, which equals a fortnight on Earth. According to NASA, the Moon’s temperature at night can drop dramatically down to -150 degrees C.

The Chang’e-4 landed on the Von Karman crater which is located in the planet’s southern hemisphere, its sleep mode is on at night.

The Chang'e-5

The experiment to grow food on the Moon is so important since space agencies are looking to set up a manned lunar base. China National Space Agency is also working on Chang’e-5, its next lunar mission. The Chang’e-5 will be responsible for collecting and taking lunar samples to Earth as well as seeking chances for a manned Moon mission.