How to grow lettuce, tomatoes, or radishes in a place with no life-sustaining atmosphere, no fertile soil, and virtually no water? This is the core question addressed by the international Lunar Agriculture Module – Ground Test Demonstrator (LAM-GTD) project, jointly developed by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), NASA, and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The project aims to create lunar greenhouse concepts capable of providing future long-term lunar mission crews with fresh produce in environments where traditional farming is fundamentally impossible.
Why the Moon is the most difficult "vegetable garden" in the Solar System
The lunar environment consists of extreme factors that make plant cultivation impossible. Temperatures on the Moon's surface fluctuate sharply during the lunar day, there is virtually no atmosphere, water reserves are extremely limited, and cosmic radiation poses a serious threat to living organisms. Simply planting seeds in lunar soil (regolith) does not work: it contains no organic matter, includes toxic compounds, and does not retain moisture. Therefore, fully controlled growing systems that function autonomously from natural conditions are required — using artificial lighting, closed-loop nutrient solution cycles, and radiation shielding.
The LAM-GTD concept: a greenhouse integrated with a living module
The key idea of the LAM-GTD demonstrator is to directly connect the greenhouse module to an simulated residential and workspace for astronauts. This approach allows researchers not only to study plant growth in an isolated environment but also to test how the greenhouse and the living module can provide resources to each other, such as oxygen, water, and organic waste. The planned demonstrator will first be built and tested on Earth. By 2032, partners intend to decide whether it will be fully constructed and in what specific form.
From the ISS to the Moon: NASA's accumulated experience
NASA has already conducted numerous relevant experiments on the International Space Station. Specifically, lettuce, Chinese cabbage, and chili pods have been grown aboard the ISS. These trials confirmed that plants can develop in microgravity under artificial lighting and controlled water supply. The next step is to transition from small setups on the ISS to significantly larger and more complex growing systems capable of supporting entire crews during long missions, including on the lunar surface.
EDEN ISS in Antarctica: a rehearsal in extreme conditions
The German partner DLR relies on the experience of previous projects, most notably the EDEN ISS greenhouse, which operated in Antarctica for several years. From 2018 to 2023, researchers operated a specially developed greenhouse just a few hundred meters from the German "Neumayer III" research station. In extreme conditions, they grew fresh vegetables without soil or natural sunlight: LED lamps, artificial nutrient solutions, and a complex irrigation system allowed for the harvest of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, and even strawberries. A total of about one ton of fresh vegetables was produced during the operation period. Antarctica, of course, is not the Moon, but the locations share important similarities: supply is difficult, natural conditions are harsh, and errors in system operation can quickly turn into critical problems.
Not just for astronauts: applications on Earth
The research within the LAM-GTD framework is interesting not only for future lunar missions. On Earth, there are regions where growing food is extremely difficult: arid deserts, areas with limited water resources, and zones with degraded soils. Technologies that allow plants to be provided with minimal volumes of water, energy, and space can also be applied there. Controlled greenhouse systems also contribute to more precise food production with less use of plant protection products. Thus, looking beyond Earth can yield knowledge that helps find new approaches to food security on our own planet.
