Tea plants show promise for growing food on the Moon

Tea has long been a source of comfort and connection. Now, researchers are exploring whether this simple ritual could one day extend beyond Earth.

A project led by the University of Kent shows that tea plants might grow in lunar soil, offering a glimpse of how astronauts could sustain themselves while living and working on the moon.

The research was conducted in collaboration with Dartmoor Tea, Lightcurve Films, and Europlanet.

Planting tea in lunar soil

The Kent team, led by Professor Nigel Mason and Dr. Sara Lopez-Gomollon, planted tea saplings in soils designed to mimic those of the moon and Mars.

The conditions were carefully controlled, from temperature and humidity to lighting. A control group grew in Devonian soil back on Earth.

Over several weeks, the lunar group thrived, matching the performance of the control plants. In contrast, the Martian group failed to grow.

Students Anna-Maria Wirth and Florence Grant measured soil moisture, nutrient content, pH, root length, and leaf health. The results suggest that lunar soil may not be as hostile as once thought, at least for certain crops.

Broader implications of the research

This idea began when planetary scientist Maarten Roos-Serote, from Lightcurve Films, learned about Kent’s space-agriculture research at a European Planetary Science Congress.

Having already experimented with tea plants in Portugal, he connected with Jo Harper from Dartmoor Tea. Together, they supplied the plants used for the university experiment.

The research is not only about supporting space travel. Poor soils caused by climate change and over-farming challenge food security worldwide.

Large regions of Africa, Asia, and even parts of Europe now face the consequences of desertification and nutrient loss.

Farmers are searching for strategies to keep yields high without exhausting the land. Studying how plants respond to nutrient-poor, rocky substrates like lunar simulants could inspire new methods of soil treatment.

Scientists may be able to adapt the strategies plants use to cope with stress, and apply them to agricultural fields here on Earth.

Using tea for lunar survival

Professor Mason noted that we are moving into a new age of space, where we think about settling in space and building bases on the moon or Mars.

“One of the first things you want to know is, ‘What will people eat?’ These experiments reveal that terrestrial plants such as tea may be cultivated in lunar soils within lunar greenhouses, allowing inhabitants of such bases some degree of autonomy and access to fresh food,” said Professor Mason.

“We are at the very earliest stages of research into space agriculture but it is reassuring that we may be able to provide access to the great British tradition of a tea break.”

Growing crops in space

Food independence is critical for any long-duration space mission. Transporting large amounts of food from Earth is costly and impractical.

Growing fresh crops onsite reduces dependence on supply chains, improves diet variety, and supports astronaut health.

The tea experiment demonstrates that even delicate crops can adapt to lunar simulants. Future research may extend these trials to grains, vegetables, and legumes that provide more complete nutrition.

If successful, astronauts could grow balanced diets using lunar soil, supplemented with hydroponic systems.

Looking to the future

“The results of this project are very encouraging, as they demonstrate that a tea, a crop, can be grown in lunar soils. Our next step is to better understand the physiology of the plant under these conditions, so we can improve growth and ideally translate these findings to other crops,” said Dr. Lopez-Gomollon.

“This is particularly exciting as we move beyond simply sending astronauts to the moon and begin to think seriously about making it habitable, paving the way for long-duration space missions.

According to Dr. Lopez-Gomollon, the team hopes that the knowledge gained from studying plant survival in extreme extra-terrestrial environments will also be applied to improving crop resilience here on Earth.

Ties to the tea industry

“The team at Dartmoor Estate Tea have been delighted to be involved in this study. We hope that our experience of establishing the cultivation of tea in an unconventional setting has assisted this project,” added Harper from Dartmoor Tea.

“Outcomes from the implementation of the trial phase have already led to direct improvements in the way we grow and nurture our plants here in Devon, with the potential for these to have applications benefiting the wider tea industry.”

The findings will be presented at Europe’s first Space Agriculture Workshop in Bratislava.

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