日前美國佛羅里達(dá)大學(xué)的研究人員首次在阿波羅號宇航員帶回的月球土壤里種出了植物，這個突破性進(jìn)展意味著人類朝著在月球上種植糧食又邁近了一步。

For the first time, scientists have grown plants in soil from the moon collected by Nasa’s Apollo astronauts.

科學(xué)家首次在美國宇航局阿波羅號宇航員從月球上收集的土壤里種出了植物。

Researchers had no idea if anything would sprout in the harsh moon dirt and wanted to see if it could be used to grow food by a new generation of lunar explorers. The results stunned them.

研究人員原本不知道貧瘠的月球土壤里能否長出東西，想看看新一代月球探險者能否用月球土壤種植食物。實(shí)驗(yàn)結(jié)果讓他們驚呆了。

"Holy cow. Plants actually grow in lunar stuff. Are you kidding me?" said Robert Ferl of the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

美國佛羅里達(dá)大學(xué)食品和農(nóng)業(yè)科學(xué)研究所的羅伯特·菲爾說：“我的天！月球土壤里真的能種出植物！這不是在開玩笑吧？”

Ferl and his colleagues planted thale cress in moon soil returned by Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, and other moonwalkers years ago and the seeds sprouted.

菲爾和他的同事在阿波羅11號宇航員尼爾·阿姆斯特朗、巴茲·奧爾德林和其他登月者數(shù)年前帶回的月球土壤上種植鼠耳芥，結(jié)果種子發(fā)芽了。

The downside was that after the first week, the coarseness and other properties of the lunar soil stressed the small, flowering weeds so much that they grew more slowly than seedlings planted in fake moon dirt from Earth.

壞消息是，過了一周后，月球土壤的粗糙和其他特性給初生的鼠耳芥幼苗造成了很大壓力，所以月球土壤上種植的鼠耳芥幼苗比來自地球的仿月球土壤上種植的鼠耳芥幼苗生長速度更緩慢。

Most of the moon plants ended up stunted. Results were published on Thursday in Communications Biology.

種植在月球土壤上的大多數(shù)鼠耳芥植株最后都會發(fā)育不良。該結(jié)果于5月12日發(fā)表在《通訊-生物》上。

The longer the soil was exposed to punishing cosmic radiation and solar wind on the moon, the worse the plants seemed to do.

月球上的土壤暴露在嚴(yán)酷的宇宙輻射和太陽風(fēng)下的時間越長，植物的長勢似乎就越差。

The Apollo 11 samples – exposed a couple of billion years longer to the elements because of the lunar Sea of Tranquility's older surface – were the least conducive for growth, according to scientists.

科學(xué)家稱，阿波羅11號帶回的土壤樣本是最不利于植物生長的，因?yàn)樵虑虮砻婀爬系撵o海區(qū)域比其他區(qū)域多承受了幾十億年的宇宙輻射和太陽風(fēng)。

"This is a big step forward to know that you can grow plants," said Simon Gilroy, a space plant biologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who had no role in the study. "The real next step is to go and do it on the surface of the moon."

沒有參與該研究的威斯康星大學(xué)麥迪遜分校太空植物學(xué)家西蒙·吉爾羅伊說：“知道能在月球土壤上種植物是向前邁了一大步。下一步就是在月球表面上種植物?！?/p>

Moon dirt is full of tiny, glass fragments from micrometeorite impacts that got everywhere in the Apollo lunar landers and wore down the moonwalkers’ spacesuits.

月球土壤中充斥著微隕石沖擊留下的小玻璃碎片，阿波羅登月飛行器上到處都是微隕石撞擊的痕跡，微隕石給登月者的宇航服也造成了很多磨損。

One solution might be to use younger geologic spots on the moon, like lava flows, for digging up planting soil. The environment also could be tweaked, altering the nutrient mixture or adjusting the artificial lighting.

改善植物生長情況的一個解決方法可能是選取月球上地質(zhì)比較年輕的區(qū)域的土壤，比如在有熔巖流的區(qū)域挖取種植土壤。種植環(huán)境也可以稍作改變，更換營養(yǎng)混合液或調(diào)整人造光。

Only 842 pounds of moon rocks and soil were brought back by six Apollo crews, and most was locked away.

阿波羅號的6名宇航員一共只帶回了842磅（382千克）的月球巖石和土壤，大多數(shù)都被封存了。

Nasa finally doled out 12 grams to the University of Florida researchers early last year, and the long-awaited planting took place last May in a lab.

去年初，美國宇航局終于分給佛羅里達(dá)大學(xué)研究人員12克月球土壤，這一期待已久的種植實(shí)驗(yàn)去年五月得以在實(shí)驗(yàn)室開展。

英文來源：美聯(lián)社

翻譯&編輯：丹妮