About 1,500 rice seeds that completed a 23-day space journey with China's Chang'e-5 probe have sprouted and grown leaves in a greenhouse in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, The Xinhua News Agency reports.
These rice seeds traveled more than 760,000 kilometers to the moon last November and returned to Earth on December 17th.
The space-exposed seeds were handed over to their provider, the National Engineering Research Center of Plant Space Breeding of South China Agricultural University (SCAU), and planted in Guangdong at the end of February.
These seeds traveled through the Van Allen belts and encountered violent sunspot activity during the trip.
After being exposed to cosmic radiation and zero gravity, some seeds can mutate and produce higher yields and improved quality when planted back on Earth.
It was the first such experiment conducted in a deep space environment.
This batch of rice is expected to be transplanted to land at the end of March, and will be reaped at the end of June.
After three to four years of selection, the fittest that have been approved by the agricultural sector will be planted on a large scale and provided to thousands of households.
Who we are: About us, Contacts. How we write news and our principles: Editorial code. We did our best. If you found this valuable – please support us.
To request a correction, please send an email.