The first astronauts to land on the moon in more than half a century will set up a lunar mini-greenhouse, if all goes according to plan.
NASA has selected the first three science experiments to be deployed by astronauts on the moon's surface on the Artemis 3 mission in 2026. Among them is LEAF ("Lunar Effects on Agricultural Flora"), which will study how space crops fare in the exotic lunar environment.
The LEAF subjects won't be the first-ever flora on the moon; China sent cotton plants to the lunar far side on its robotic Chang'e 4 mission in January 2019.
The other two newly selected experiments are the Lunar Environment Monitoring Station (LEMS) and the Lunar Dielectric Analyzer (LDA).
The Artemis 3 crew has not yet been announced, though NASA has said the mission will land a woman and a person of color on the moon for the first time ever.
Artemis 3 will be the first crewed mission to the lunar surface since Apollo 17 in December 1972. Artemis 3's predecessor, Artemis 2, will send four astronauts around the moon and back to Earth in late 2025, if all goes according to plan.
The month-long Artemis 1, a successful uncrewed mission to lunar orbit and back, launched in November 2022.
Source: www.space.com
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