China's Yutu-2 lander grows cotton on the moon; a biological first

Breaking new grounds on moon, China, has recently successfully grown cotton on moon, as per international reports. Reports state that China's Chang'E 4  mission - Yutu-2 lander has grown a cotton plant on far side of moon. cotton plant was one of several organisms in a mini biosphere aboard Yutu-2 lander. This is biological first where a plant has been grown on of moon.

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China grows cotton on moon

Talking to Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), project le Vie Gengxin said that team selected five species of biological organisms to send to moon. He explained that seeds of cotton, potato, arabidopsis, yeast, and fruit-fly eggs h been selected. He stated that while most died quickly, cotton seeds sprouted and grew t one but two leaves. Previously, plants have been grown in International Station.

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Cotton crop survives two weeks

However, reports d that leaves died within one lunar day, which is equivalent to two weeks here on Earth. Scientists have claimed that dramatic temperature drop due to lunar night and absence of external heating h led to crop's ultimate death. team h initially reportedly planned to send animals as part of experiment - including a tortoise. But it was scrapped due to limited availability of oxygen.

“Even though it is very meaningful to choose tortoise, oxygen inside paylo can only be used for about 20 days for turtles,” Xie explained to IEEE. He ded that in future, his team plans to send more complex organisms including animals to moon. China's Chang'E 6 mission is scheduled for early 2020 as per reports. This may be an opportunity for China to test ir ory.

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Yutu-2's latest moon ims

Earlier in September, China's Yutu-2 which was first to soft-land on far side of lunar surface has recently captured an interesting im on moon -showing some mysterious material discovered, as per international reports. Reports say that Yutu-2 which is China's Chang'e-4 mission's lunar mission, has spotted a 'gel-like' substance while roving close to a small crater. Scientists have reportedly w analysed substance despite risks. China's Chang'e-4 craft successfully landed on moon's far side on January 2.'

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