Obviously, to feed the astronauts of Artemis and the future lunar colonists, the space agencies will not be satisfied with the only supply missions from Earth. At some point humans will have to become partially or even fully autonomous in order to feed themselves. This is all the more true since Mars is the stage that will follow the moon. Several projects are taking place to prepare and initiate lunar farming. If China has opened up an interesting avenue, the company Solsys Mining in Europe is betting on hydroponic farming from lunar regolith.
The Artemis and Moon to Mars programs have as their ultimate goal the installation of Man on the Moon and on Mars. It goes without saying that these future colonists, whether lunar or Martian, will have to support themselves. If they initially have food delivered to them at regular intervals, they will have to produce it from the local resources of these two planets in the distant future.
In 2019, lunar farming “took its first steps” with fairly successful experiments conducted by China. During the Chang’e 4 mission, which landed on the far side of the moon, four seeds managed to germinate on board the lander, including rapeseed and potatoes. Granted, they were bundled together under ideal conditions, but this experience showed that the idea of lunar farming was not as absurd as it seemed. You should also know that analysis of lunar samples brought back to Earth during the Apollo missions showed that most of the vital minerals are available in sufficient quantities for plant growth, with the exception of nitrogen compounds. However, lunar soil compacts in the presence of water, causing problems for plant germination and root growth.
What food on Mars and in space?
From moon farming without soil and compost
A few days ago, via the project “Enabling Lunar In-Situ Agriculture by Producing Fertilizer from Beneficiated Regolith”, the European Space Agency (ESA) convinced the Norwegian company Solsys Mining to produce a fertilizer from the lunar regolith for a variety of plants in the framework of the so-called hydroponic agriculture. With this type of farming, the roots of the plants are supplied with nutrient-rich water directly, without the need for soil. The Solsys Mining team is optimistic, having previously grown beans using simulated Lunar Highlands regolith as a nutrient source.
This project convinced the European Space Agency, which decided to partially fund it. Solsys Mining, in collaboration with the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) and the Center for Interdisciplinary Space Research (CIRiS), has to demonstrate that it is possible to extract mineral nutrients from regolith through combinations of several mechanical, chemical and biological processes.
This work is “essential for the future of long-term exploration of the moon,” says ESA Materials and Process Engineer Malgorzata Holynska. Achieving a sustainable presence on the moon “involves the use of local resources and access to nutrients in the lunar regolith that have the potential to grow plants. The current study represents proof of principle using available lunar regolith simulants and paves the way for more detailed research in the future.”