The Plant the Moon Challenge is a global science experiment, learning activity and inspirational project-based-learning challenge to see who can grow the best crops using lunar regolith simulant.
NASA's Artemis Program is the United States' new initiative to return to the Moon. The Artemis program, will explore more of the lunar surface than ever before. However, having humans on the Moon is challenging in many ways. One of those challenges is how you will feed your crew. Bringing all of the food and water with you that is needed for long-duration human missions becomes a problem as your mission duration and mission size expands. Using the local resources on the Moon itself could lead to great advancements in our capabilities to explore our celestial neighbor.
Understanding how we can use lunar soils to grow crops for future human missions is one of the next great steps in supporting our return to the Moon! Help NASA scientists and the academic community at large learn the best lunar crop conditions by completing your own Plant the Moon Challenge project and sharing your results with the world!
The Plant the Moon Challenge is a student activity and competition to see who can grow the best crops using lunar regolith simulant. Participants will be sent a Plant the Moon Activity Kit including lunar regolith simulant, a Project Guide and a pH meter. Teams will use the Project Guide to define their own plant growth experiments using the Lunar Simulant. Students will define their own experiment parameters such as the structure of the plant growth setup, amount of water used, and nutrients or fertilizer added to the regolith simulant to help support plant growth.
Projects will be evaluated based on review of their experimental setup and the results of their plant growth. Teams will submit photos (optional videos), and an experiment report. Best-in-show awards will be provided to teams with the best plant growth results and experimental design.
If you are interested in signing up for the summer 2021 PTMC or the new Plant Mars Challenges visit the official website here: https://plantthemoon.com/
Competition Process
Each team of students will receive a Plant the Moon lunar soil simulant package from the University of Central Florida's CLASS Exolith Laboratory. The lunar soil simulant is specially designed to mimic the lunar mare soil in chemistry, composition, grain size, and density. Students will also receive a Project Guide from the Institute of Competition Sciences. Following the project guide, you will create your own experiment to examine important variables related to plant growth in the lunar soil. Results from your experiment and your project log will be shown to NASA scientists and our scientific evaluators to select best in show projects!Judging Criteria
To be released.Awards & Recognition
Best in Show
This award counts toward these ICS Academic Badges.
Experimental Design
The Experimental Design badge is awarded to students who earn recognition in competitions that demonstrate their ability to plan and execute high-quality scientific investigations. This badge demonstrates knowledge in identifying important scientific questions, developing experimental protocols, isolating variables, and implementing operational procedures. Associated skills: Formulate valid hypotheses and design repeatable experiments; plan and execute scientific investigations; maintain a control system to validate testing; account for environmental and human error factors.
Participate
Website: https://plantthemoon.com/
Managing Organization: Institute of Competition Sciences
Eligibility:
Participants can form teams of 1 to 10 students. Elementary and Middle School students participate in the Primary Division, students from 9-12 grade participate in the Secondary Division, and students in university participate in the College Division. Students from anywhere throughout the world can participate. Additionally, adults are allowed to participate in their own special division for professional experiments.
Participants can form teams of 1 to 10 students. Elementary and Middle School students participate in the Primary Division, students from 9-12 grade participate in the Secondary Division, and students in university participate in the College Division. Students from anywhere throughout the world can participate. Additionally, adults are allowed to participate in their own special division for professional experiments.
Registration Dates
November 1, 2020
1:01am PDT
Registration Opens
April 29, 2021
9:59pm PDT