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Flinn Foundation

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Sep 10, 2010
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UA engineers build lunar vegetable garden

Tags: bioagriculture, controlled environment agriculture center, university of arizona

[Source: UA News] - The first extraterrestrials to inhabit the moon probably won't be little green men, but they could be little green plants.

Researchers at the University of Arizona Controlled Environment Agriculture Center, known as CEAC, are demonstrating that plants from Earth could be grown hydroponically (without soil) on the moon or Mars, setting the table for astronauts who would find potatoes, peanuts, tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables awaiting their arrival.

The research team has built a prototype lunar greenhouse in the CEAC Extreme Climate Lab at UA's Campus Agricultural Center. It represents the last 18 feet of one of several tubular structures that would be part of a proposed lunar base. The tubes would be buried beneath the moon's surface to protect the plants and astronauts from deadly solar flares, micrometeorites and cosmic rays.

For more information: UA Engineers Build Lunar Vegetable Garden