Scientists at the University of Florida (UF) have grown plants in soil that came from the Moom. The plants didn't grow as well as those grew in soil from Earth, but the experiment marks an important step towards growing plants on the Moon.
The Moon's soil is called"regolith (风化层)", and there's not a lot of it on Earth. NASA (美国国家航空航天局) has most of it, which was collected over 50 years ago. Because the regolith is so valuable, it took the UF scientists 11 years to persuade NASA to allow them to use it.
NASA didn't give them much soil. The regolith came from three different NASA space flights —Apollo 11,12 and 17. The soil from Apollo 11 was taken from the top layer(层) of the Moon's surface. The rest came from deeper layers of the Moon's soil.
The scientists chose a special plant for their experiment. It's a small plant related to broccoli (西兰花) that can grow in very little soil. Scientists know a lot about the DNA of this plant, which helps them understand how it grows in the soil it's planted in.
By studying changes in the DNA of the plants growing in the Moon's soil, scientists may one day find out new ways to help plants grow better in the Moon's soil.
"The ability to take plants successfully with us to the Moon is how we'll grow our own food." said Dr. Rober Ferl, one of the researchers. "Showing that plants will grow in the Moon's soil is actually a huge step in that direction."
