The mysteries of space have led to countless tests and experiments, questioning how everything we do and use holds up in the great unknown, yet one of NASA's strangest trials involved 500 seeds and some pretty exceptional results.
You never know how anything will react when putting it in a completely new environment, and space is perhaps the perfect testing ground when it comes to understanding unique experiences.
Gravity and oxygen are two major factors that play a fundamental role in the growth and development of almost all living things, so what would happen when you place them in an environment where both factors are completely absent?
That's exactly what NASA wanted to test out with their 'Moon Trees' project, taking roughly 500 seeds into outer orbit in the 1971 Apollo 14 expedition to see just how they would react and grow having been exposed to the unnatural environment of space.
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As reported by Science Alert, the seeds chosen by the US Forest Service included five different species of tree:
- Loblolly Pine (Pinus Taeda)
- California Redwood (Sequoia Sempervirens)
- American Sycamore (Platanus Occidentalis)
- Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga Meziesii)
- American Sweet Gum (Liquidambar Styraciflua)
These seeds were then taken on 34 orbits around the Moon before returning to Earth with the mission, upon which they were planted and grown back at home to see how their exposure to microgravity and space radiation affected their development.
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Thankfully most of the seeds proved to be successful and grew as you would expect, and this was perhaps best seen in 'control' seedlings that were planted next to counterparts that hadn't left the Earth.
As some scientists expected, after over 40 years there are no discernable differences between the space and non-space versions, which is somewhat disappointing depending on your perspective.
Beyond the control variants though, seedlings were sent out across both America and the rest of the world as gifts, and the NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive has a mostly comprehensive listing of every 'Moon Tree' location across our planet.
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Most of which have been planted across the United States, with spots at various universities, science centers, and even the White House, but you can also see certain seedlings in other countries like Brazil and France.
Unfortunately a fair amount of these Moon Trees are no longer alive, including the aforementioned White House seedling, with the status of many others currently unknown too.
It might be something to add to your bucket list if you're a space enthusiast though, as ticking off all of the locations of trees that have made the orbit around the moon would be both a fascinating and enriching achievement.