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I'll be very surprised if plants from Earth can tolerate the sort of high radiation environment that is the moon (or space in general, outside the magnetically
by Syonyk 2y ago
I'll be very surprised if plants from Earth can tolerate the sort of high radiation environment that is the moon (or space in general, outside the magnetically shielded and atmospherically shielded bubble that is Earth).
We tend to forget that the sun is an incredibly powerful and quite unshielded fusion reactor purring away, pushing 1000W/m^2 through our atmosphere. It's about 1400W/m^2 at 1AU (outside the Earth's sheltering fields and such) - and most of that difference is some really nasty, ionizing stuff. To the best of my knowledge, the moon is rather outside the Earth's magnetic shielding influence.
But things will certainly be learned in the process!
- retrac 2y agoSome forms of life can tolerate remarkable levels of ionizing radiation, though I doubt anything terrestrial would survive a pass through Jupiter's radiation belts unshielded. It has been suggested that some fungi can extract useful energy from radiation: https://www.rsb.org.uk/biologist-features/eating-gamma-radiation-for-breakfast https://www.rsb.org.uk/biologist-features/eating-gamma-radia...
- RajT88 2y agoWe just have to figure out how to make Tardigrades gigantic and then farm them for meat. (I feel like this must have been a Futurama plot, and mist have ended poorly)
- 77pt77 2y agoRiding giant domesticated tardigrades on the moon is the future I want.
- bregma 2y ago"Gi'yup little Tardy! We gotta git these dogies to Copernicus before sundown, and that's only two weeks away!"
- itishappy 2y agoThe Problem with Popplers Season 2, Episode 18 https://futurama.fandom.com/wiki/Popplers https://futurama.fandom.com/wiki/Popplers
- adrian_b 2y agoTardigrades can survive extreme conditions like vacuum or radiations only when they are in their "hibernating" state, which is quasi-non-living. The same is true for a few other kinds of animals, which can enter a special inactive state that can survive desiccation or freezing. When living normally, no animals can resist such conditions, even if some are much more resistant to radiations than humans. The most radiation-resistant living beings are some kinds of bacteria, e.g. Deinococcus mentioned by another poster, which have some special mechanisms for continuously repairing the DNA molecules that are damaged by radiation, which allow them to live normally while exposed to radiation.
- dexwiz 2y agoI don't know the exact levels, but radiation+plants doesn't always equal death. Plant genomes tend to be much larger to animal genomes, and much more copies of specific genes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_gardening https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_gardening
- hinkley 2y agoClerestory at the north and south poles where the sun shines basically all the time. Don’t let any light in directly, only reflected light.