Scientists Successfully Harvest Chickpeas From 'Moon Dirt'

Scientists Successfully Harvest Chickpeas Using 'Moon Soil'

Moon. Credit: NASA Scientists have managed to harvest chickpeas grown in simulated Moon soil, marking a step toward producing fresh food for future lunar missions as NASA prepares for Artemis II. Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, working with Texas A&M University, reported the first time chickpeas were grown and harvested to seed in a lunar regolith simulant. The findings were published in Scientific Reports. The work tests wheth…

Can you make hummus on the moon? Scientists are small step closer

A crop of chickpeas has been grown in lunar soil for the first time. Future inhabitants of moon bases could produce their own food rather than relying on spaceships

Bioremediation of lunar regolith simulant through mycorrhizal fungi and plant symbioses enables chickpea to seed - Scientific Reports

Food sustainability is a significant challenge for long-term space travel. Plants can provide fresh nutrition, reducing reliance on packaged foods. Using Lunar regolith simulant (LRS), we tested a methodology to create a productive growth medium for horticultural crops on the Moon. We leveraged chickpea (Cicer arietinum), Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF), and Vermicompost (VC) to enhance plant stress tolerance, sequester contaminants, and impr…

Chickpea grown in lunar regolith simulant

The researchers chose the ‘Myles’ variety of chickpea for this study. Its compact size and resiliency support crop production in space-limited mission environments.

One small sprout for chickpeas in moon soil

Hummus could be on the menu for lunar astronauts with the help of a fungus and some worms