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Are there any plants and creatures that could be taken to the moon and would survive, reproduce and be a viable food source in, say, 25 years’ time?
Robin Maguire
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
The answer (in principle) is a firm yes, thanks to the Wardian case. This device, invented in the first half of the 19th century, was an airtight box with glass panels in which assemblages of plants, soil and insects could survive for years without attention, even in otherwise hostile environments. The case’s contents recycled themselves, including moisture. Sunlight entering through the glass provided an energy source.
Similar arrangements could supply astronauts with a diet of insects and vegetables (I haven’t found a record of successful colonies of, say, reptiles or mammals). Fish in ponds might work, if accompanied by a suitable vegetable food source.
In practical terms, Wardian cases on the moon would have to be expanded into large, airtight greenhouses kept at 1 atmosphere of pressure. It might be best for each greenhouse to be supplied with a starter colony of just one type of plant, lest a vigorous species overwhelm its less competitive roommate while unattended.
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The moon is quite cold and the lunar day is a month long, so underfloor heating and sunlamps would be needed
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The greenhouses would be set up with soil formulated to provide all the nourishment needed to build a large, healthy population of the chosen plant and supplied with appropriate insects and microbes (but with disease organisms and toxins carefully excluded).
It would be prudent to experiment in advance so as to exclude any species that might become over-exuberant or otherwise misbehave in low gravity. It wouldn’t be good if the glass were rendered lightproof by overgrown plants or spiders’ webs.
The species to be cultivated should ideally supply all the nutritional requirements for human health. Grains such as wheat or barley would provide an excellent base, as ordinary bread supplies a high proportion of nutritional needs.
The moon is quite cold and the lunar day is about a month long, so underfloor heating and part-time sunlamps would be needed, powered by solar panels and batteries or by nuclear power. If some of the chosen species were vulnerable to cosmic rays, they would have to be grown in underground chambers with artificial illumination.
When astronauts arrived and began to live off their produce, they would need to be assiduous in returning all their organic waste, suitably treated, to the greenhouses so they didn’t deplete the colony’s supply of nutrients.
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