The first plant on the moon died
Cotton seed that sprouted aboard the Chinese probe “Chang’e-4” on the reverse side of the moon, has died. Writes about this “Tape.ru” referring to the Agency “Xinhua”.
According to scientists, they’re hoping for a long experiment with a mini-biosphere, however, the factor that destroyed the germ, was the onset of lunar night. At this point, the temperature at the surface of the satellite drops to -170 degrees Celsius.
The experiment was conducted in the canister of cylindrical form of special materials and aluminium with a height of 198 mm, with a diameter of 173 mm and weighing 2.6 kg. the Device contains in water, soil, air, chamber for fixing of the experiment, as well as a system to control the heat inside. Special tube directs natural light onto the surface of the moon to allow the plants to grow.
In addition to cotton, the canister also contains rapeseed, potatoes, rezhevichi, yeast, and eggs of fruit flies. The head of the experiment Professor Chongqing University CoE Gensini Agency explained that the data types were selected for the formation of the canister simple mini-biosphere.
The spacecraft “Chang’e-4” successfully sat 3 January in the lunar crater Pocket, which is located in the North-Western side of the largest known lunar crater Pool South pole — Aitken, said “RIA Novosti”.
Scientists believe that due to the presence of device in this area will be to study the mineral composition of the lunar surface and to obtain new data on mantle of Earth’s natural satellite.
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