<h2 class="subTitle" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; font-family: arial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; resize: none; border: 0px; width: 645.859px; height: auto !important;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 14px;"><font color="#000000" style=""><b>A team of researchers from Israel and abroad set out to discover which plants could survive in space ahead of the 2025 Beresheet2 mission; 'the future of humanity will depend upon being able to reach the stars,' says the research professor.</b></font></span></h2><h2 class="subTitle" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; font-family: arial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; resize: none; border: 0px; width: 645.859px; height: auto !important;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000" style=""><br></font></span></h2><h2 class="subTitle" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; font-family: arial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; resize: none; border: 0px; width: 645.859px; height: auto !important;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 14px;"><font color="#000000" style="">Some unique plants like which can "come back from the dead" and can also survive extreme weather conditions....this might be the key to growing crops in space. These are known as resurrection plants, these are rare and they can survive without even water for months or even years on end, it depends on the species, and this might prove to be ideal candidates for space travel.&nbsp;</font></span></h2><h2 class="subTitle" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; font-family: arial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; resize: none; border: 0px; width: 645.859px; height: auto !important;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000" style=""><br></font></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">This is precisely what a team of researchers led by the Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev is setting out to discover.</span></h2><div class="text_editor_paragraph ltr" data-block="true" data-editor="778kb" data-offset-key="au5v8-0-0" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr; font-family: Arimo; line-height: 16px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px 0px 16px; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 16px !important;"><div data-offset-key="au5v8-0-0" class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span data-offset-key="au5v8-0-0" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">The team, which includes scientists from Israel, Australia, and South Africa, is currently testing to know exactly which species of plants can not only survive but also thrive on the moon as part of SpaceIL’s Beresheet2 mission, which has a launch planned in mid-2025. The experiment, known as Aleph, was proposed by Lunaria One, an international consortium of scientists.</span></div></div><div class="text_editor_paragraph ltr" data-block="true" data-editor="778kb" data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr; font-family: Arimo; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 16px !important;"><div data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><font color="#000000"><span data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr; font-size: 14px;">Prof. Simon Barak, of the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, is coordinating a team of plant biologists and imaging specialists ahead of the launch.</span><span style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; font-size: 14px;">“These [resurrection plants] are plants that you can dry down to almost being crisp and make them survive like that for years,” Barak said. “When you rewater them they come back to life; they expand and look like the original adult plant that they were.”</span></font></div><div class="text_editor_paragraph ltr" data-block="true" data-editor="778kb" data-offset-key="f5fvv-0-0" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 16px;"><div data-offset-key="f5fvv-0-0" class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span data-offset-key="f5fvv-0-0" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr; font-size: 14px;"><font color="#000000">The plants that the scientists are currently examining as potential candidates to go to the moon must meet precise criteria due to the unique challenges brought about by space travel. Firstly, they have to survive the months-long journey to the moon and also be able to withstand extreme temperature changes, low gravity, and cosmic radiation.</font></span></div><div data-offset-key="f5fvv-0-0" class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span data-offset-key="f5fvv-0-0" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><font color="#000000"><br></font></span></div><div data-offset-key="f5fvv-0-0" class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span data-offset-key="f5fvv-0-0" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><font color="#000000">The Aleph experiment will consist of seeds and plants also which will be kept inside the sealed chamber with the Earth's atmosphere in one of Beresheet2's landers. because, when the laner will turn its power on, there will be a light and a heater. And all things will be monitored using infrared cameras like plants and seeds</font></span><font color="#000000">.</font></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: &quot;Nunito Sans&quot;, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: -0.4px; white-space: normal; -webkit-text-fill-color: initial;">“Once we land, we power on and we irrigate we only have a 72-hour window for the experiment,” Barak explained. “</span></div><div data-offset-key="f5fvv-0-0" class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><br></div><div data-offset-key="f5fvv-0-0" class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">If it is successful then it will be the first experiment of its kind to test growing conditions on the moon. years ago China attempted to grow cotton seeds inside a controlled environment on the moon but all of them died due to the harsh conditions. </span><span style="font-family: &quot;Nunito Sans&quot;, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: -0.4px; white-space: normal; -webkit-text-fill-color: initial;">“Human communities on the moon or Mars are going to require plants, not just for food but for supplying oxygen, for taking out carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, maybe for medicinal purposes and for general well-being,” he said.</span></div><div data-offset-key="f5fvv-0-0" class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Nunito Sans&quot;, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: -0.4px; white-space: normal; -webkit-text-fill-color: initial;"><br></span></div><div data-offset-key="f5fvv-0-0" class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><br></div></div><div spottype="dynamic_mc" typeindex="0" id="browsi_adWrapper_ai_0_ati_1_rc_0" height="auto" width="100%" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; text-align: center; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; clear: both !important; margin-top: 16px !important; margin-bottom: 16px !important; width: auto !important; height: auto !important;"><div id="browsi_adContainer_ai_0_ati_1_rc_0" data-google-query-id="CMHE-vv58_oCFfYdKwodxJYAug" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"></div></div><div data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.4px; white-space: normal;">Jill Farrant, a professor and research chair in plant molecular physiology at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, is one of the scientists taking part in the Aleph project.&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.4px; white-space: normal; -webkit-text-fill-color: initial;">Farrant holds a research chair given by the South African Department of Science and Innovation through the National Research Foundation and is a leading expert on resurrection plants.</span><img src="/media/django-summernote/2022-10-22/3974f6fe-a6fc-41df-9a02-d6059d207245.png" style="width: 100%;"></div><div data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Nunito Sans&quot;, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: -0.4px; white-space: normal;">Myrothamnus flabellifolius</span><em style="font-family: &quot;Nunito Sans&quot;, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: -0.4px; white-space: normal;">&nbsp;foliage during the wet season, Hamerkop Kloof, Magaliesberg, South Africa. (Androstachys/Creative Commons)</em></span></div><div data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><em style="font-family: &quot;Nunito Sans&quot;, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: -0.4px; white-space: normal;"><br></em><span style="font-family: &quot;Nunito Sans&quot;, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: -0.4px; white-space: normal;"><br></span></span></div><div data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Nunito Sans&quot;, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: -0.4px; white-space: normal;">According to him:</span></span></div><div data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Nunito Sans&quot;, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: -0.4px; white-space: normal;"><br></span></span></div><ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><li style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: -0.4px; white-space: normal;">though loosely defined, resurrection plants are an incredibly rare phenomenon.</span></span></li><li style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Nunito Sans&quot;, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: -0.4px; white-space: normal;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">The specific type of plant she is looking into sending on the Beresheet2 mission is&nbsp;</span><em style="letter-spacing: -0.4px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Myrothamnus flabellifolius</span></em><span style="letter-spacing: -0.4px; font-family: Helvetica;">&nbsp;(common name: resurrection bush), which only grows in southern Africa.</span></span></span></li><li style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Nunito Sans&quot;, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: -0.4px; white-space: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.4px; font-family: Helvetica;">“It’s the only woody resurrection plant on this planet and it’s ancient,” Farrant told The Media Line. “The reality is that they can lose 95% of their water and stay in their dry state for years. After a rain, 12 hours later they’re green and growing again.”</span></span></span></li><li style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Nunito Sans&quot;, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: -0.4px; white-space: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.4px; font-family: Helvetica;">“When they’re gearing down, they stop taking carbon and making food because that’s a very dangerous process,”&nbsp; Farrant said&nbsp;</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">They have ways of shutting down photosynthesis and they reshuffle their energy.</span></li><li style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Nunito Sans&quot;, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: -0.4px; white-space: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.4px; font-family: Helvetica;"><p style="padding: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.4px;">“My theory is as a proof of concept: If we can get something there that can grow sporadically when there’s enough water it will survive until we know how to make enough water on that planet,” she added.</p></span></span></span></li></ul><ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><li style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Nunito Sans&quot;, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: -0.4px; white-space: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.4px;"><p style="padding: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.4px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Another purpose of the project is to encourage the wider public to participate. To this end, parallel science experiments will be carried out by amateurs (for example, high school students) and professionals to compare growth to that in lunar conditions.</span></p><p style="padding: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.4px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">“The Earth is finite, our resources on Earth are finite and so the future of humanity will depend upon being able to reach the stars,” Barak said.</span></p></span><br></span></span></li></ul><div data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Nunito Sans&quot;, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: -0.4px; white-space: normal;"><br></span></span></div><div data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Nunito Sans&quot;, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: -0.4px; white-space: normal;"><br></span></span></div><div data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Nunito Sans&quot;, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; letter-spacing: -0.4px; white-space: normal;"><br></span><br></span></div><div data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><br></span></div><div data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><br></span></div><div data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><span data-offset-key="ab6a8-0-0" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr;"><br></span></div></div><figure data-block="true" data-editor="778kb" data-offset-key="aeie9-0-0" contenteditable="false" style="display: inline; margin-top: 10px; -webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr; font-family: Arimo; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="ArticleImageComponenta full_wide" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; position: relative; width: 645.859px; direction: ltr;"></div></figure><h2 class="subTitle" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; font-family: arial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; resize: none; border: 0px; width: 645.859px; height: auto !important;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000" style=""><br></font></span></h2><h2 class="subTitle" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; font-family: arial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; resize: none; border: 0px; width: 645.859px; height: auto !important;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000" style=""><br></font></span></h2><h2 class="subTitle" style="-webkit-text-fill-color: initial; direction: ltr; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; font-family: arial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; resize: none; border: 0px; width: 645.859px; height: auto !important;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000" style=""><br></font></span></h2>