In an ideal world, future lunar colonists would feed of what the earth gives. It is not feasible to carry very heavy loads there, so once the supplies are exhausted, it would be perfect to be able to grow more. The problem is that “the soil” on the Moon is the lunar regolith and its ingredients are much less conducive to agriculture than the soil on our planet. For this reason, a team of Japanese scientists has been searching for a good lunar fertilizer that would make this regolith able to host plant life. It seems that they have finally found one and the best thing is that, to make it, they only need atmospheric air.
Green plasma to obtain a lunar fertilizer. These scientists, from Tohoku University and the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA), They have obtained their lunar fertilizer with only three ingredients: atmospheric air, plasma and water. Upon contact with plasma (an electrically ionized gas), the nitrogen and oxygen present in the atmospheric air react to give rise to dinitrogen pentaoxide. Afterwards, this dissolves in water to transform into nitrate, a nitrogen ion very necessary for plant growth. Fertile terrestrial soils are usually rich in this ion, so plants absorb and fix it directly. If it is not present or scarce, as occurs in the lunar regolith, should be added through fertilizers such as the one obtained with this process.
Be careful with the atmosphere. In that same ideal world, the unlimited air of the lunar atmosphere should do. Unfortunately, the moon does not have an atmosphere per se, so the atmospheric air that will be introduced into the habitable rooms of the lunar bases would be used. It’s not an ideal world, but it’s still a good option.
A very efficient process. It is true that there is already an industrial process to fix nitrogen from atmospheric air: the Haber-Bosch reaction. The problem is that, with it, a lot of energy is spent. It is totally unviable on the Moon. On the other hand, the process of obtaining lunar fertilizer using plasma is very energy efficient. Less than 100 watts are used and it is not necessary to resort to fossil fuels or anything similar.
Well nourished rice plants. To check if the lunar fertilizer works, these scientists tested it on a regolith simulator, on which they planted rice seedlings. The results were very good. To begin with, the inhospitable alkaline pH of the regolith was greatly improved, decreasing from 9.09 to 6.76. Certain nutrients that normally cannot be absorbed directly from the regolith, such as calcium, magnesium and potassium, were also extracted more efficiently. Instead, toxic ions, such as Al3+, were trapped in the lunar dust instead of passing into the plants. With all this, the rice grew much better than when the regolith simulant was irrigated with pure water, without lunar fertilizer.
Other benefits. In this and other studies by these scientists It has been seen that lunar fertilizer not only provides the necessary nutrients for plants. It also improves plant growth, boosts their immune system and protects them against some of the risks associated with microgravity.
Utility beyond the Moon. Actually our own planet It is full of infertile land. Therefore, these scientists believe that this highly efficient fertilizer can also be useful on Earth. After all, the plants are the same here as on the Moon and the need to save energy also prevails down here. Although these types of studies are carried out with an eye toward future lunar bases, we must not leave aside what is already under our feet. Our soils need it too.
Image | Magnificent | Toshiro Kaneko
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