As the return to the Moon approaches with the upcoming Artemis II mission, one key question remains: what will future lunar explorers eat? According to new research from the University of Texas at Austin, the answer might be…chickpeas.

Lunar soil, scientifically known as lunar regolith, does not support healthy plant growth. It contains high concentrations of certain metals, such as aluminum and zinc, does not allow water to filter through easily, and lacks the microbiome found in Earth’s soils.

A scientific team managed to grow and harvest chickpeas using simulated lunar soil, a mixture that mimics the composition of samples brought back to Earth by astronauts from the Apollo missions. The research is presented in the scientific journal Scientific Reports.

The lead author, Sarah Santos, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics, notes that the study is a major step forward in understanding how food could be produced on the Moon’s surface.

To create suitable growing conditions, the scientists added a natural organic fertilizer produced from the decomposition of organic materials through the action of earthworms (vermicompost). They also inoculated half of the samples with fungi. The fungi and chickpeas function symbiotically: the fungi absorb certain essential nutrients required for plant growth while also reducing the plants’ uptake of heavy metals.

The research team then planted chickpeas in mixtures of lunar soil and vermicompost in different ratios. The results showed that chickpeas could flower and produce seeds only in the samples treated with both vermicompost and fungi. Plants treated with fungi also had significantly greater shoot and root mass than untreated plants, indicating improved growth.

In addition, the researchers found that the fungi were able to colonize the simulated lunar material and survive, suggesting that under real conditions they would likely only need to be introduced once.

Although harvesting chickpeas marks an important milestone, it remains unclear whether they are tasty and safe to eat. Scientists still need to examine the plants’ nutritional value and determine whether they absorbed toxic metals during growth.

The research was initially funded by the researchers themselves and later supported by a NASA grant through the FINESST program. The scientific publication can be viewed here.

In a second article in the same journal, another research team led by the British Northumbria University investigated the growth conditions of microbes in simulated Martian soil. The research suggests that some microbes may be able to absorb enough water from the atmosphere to grow in simulated Martian soil at atmospheric humidity levels comparable to those on Earth.