Israel Prepares to Start Growing Plants on the Moon in 2025

Israeli scientists are planning to try growing a range of seeds into plants on the Moon in 2025.

The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research at the Sde Boker campus of the Ben Gurion University, that conducts research on how to grow food in the desert, is now making its first foray into space.

Bases on the moon or colonies on Mars could become a reality, and we’re exploring whether we know how to grow plants there,

Prof. Simon Barak told The Times of Israel.

The Israeli researchers are working with universities in Australia and South Africa to prepare a tiny 2-kilogram greenhouse with a range of seeds and plants that will head to the moon in 2025. It will travel aboard Beresheet 2, the second attempt at an unmanned moon landing by the Israeli SpaceIL nonprofit.

The greenhouse is expected to retain the Earch's atmosphere, as it will be sealed while still on the ground. However, it will be subject to the moon’s microgravity, which does not exist on the International Space Station, which has previously become the main testing ground for extraterrestrial gardening.

The greenhouse will automatically spring into action once Beresheet 2 lands, but will only have battery life for 72 hours, so it will include fast-growing species from the family known as resurrection plants, and will wrap up the experiments quickly.