Lunar Farming

One key to humanity's settlement of space is the ability to take plants along. A new study being proposed would use some of the lunar regolith brought back by Apollo astronauts to test whether plants would grow in it.

Of course, the regolith lacks some elements plants need, like oxygen and nitrogen, but it also has some elements plants use, such as magnesium. Learning to farm the Moon would not only give astronauts or colonists fresh food to eat and replenishable fresh air to breathe; plants could also aid in the extraction of certain minerals and elements that are bound in the regolith.

Once we mature off-Earth farming on Luna, many of the same techniques could be applied to farming on Mars-- with any luck at all, Martian soil will be a much richer medium for farming than lunar regolith-- and in colonies we eventually build in free space.