Chickpeas Grown in Moon Soil: The Surprising Step Toward Lunar Farming

Future moon colonists might be eating hummus. Scientists have successfully grown chickpeas in simulated moon soil, offering a promising step toward food production on the lunar surface — and potentially on Mars.

The experiment, reported by Scientific American, used lunar regolith simulant — a material engineered to match the chemical and physical properties of actual moon soil collected during the Apollo missions.

Why Chickpeas?

The choice of chickpeas wasn't random. They're nitrogen-fixing legumes, meaning they can convert atmospheric nitrogen into usable nutrients in the soil — essentially fertilizing their own growing medium. This is crucial for lunar agriculture, where soil is essentially crushed rock devoid of organic matter.

Chickpeas also offer excellent nutritional density: high protein, complex carbohydrates, and essential minerals, making them an ideal crop for sustaining human life in resource-constrained environments.

The Technical Challenge

Lunar regolith is hostile to plant life in multiple ways:

No organic matter: Real soil contains billions of microorganisms; moon soil has zero

Sharp particles: Lunar dust is abrasive and can damage plant cells

Toxic elements: Some lunar minerals release harmful compounds when wetted

No water retention: The soil drains immediately without organic material to hold moisture

The researchers addressed these challenges by adding specific bacterial cultures and minimal organic amendments, demonstrating that with the right biological "starter kit," lunar soil can support plant growth.

From Lab to Moon

With NASA's Artemis program planning sustained lunar presence in the coming years, the ability to grow food locally would dramatically reduce the cost and complexity of supporting astronauts. Currently, every kilogram of food shipped to the Moon costs thousands of dollars in launch costs.

As space science coverage notes, this experiment joins other recent breakthroughs — including discovering subsurface water ice and developing radiation-resistant building materials — that are making permanent lunar habitation increasingly realistic.

The Lunar Farming Challenge

Growing plants in lunar regolith (moon soil) is far more difficult than growing them in terrestrial soil. Unlike Earth's soil, which is enriched with organic matter, microorganisms, and nutrients accumulated over billions of years, lunar regolith is essentially crushed volcanic glass — sharp-edged, nutrient-poor, and lacking any biological activity.

Previous experiments by NASA's 2022 Artemis program demonstrated that Arabidopsis thaliana (a small flowering plant commonly used in research) could germinate in lunar regolith, but the plants showed severe stress responses: stunted growth, discoloration, and gene expression patterns associated with heavy metal toxicity. The lunar soil's high content of iron nanoparticles and reactive oxygen species made it actively hostile to plant biology.

What Made Chickpeas Succeed

The breakthrough came from the University of Texas at El Paso, in collaboration with NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Researchers discovered that chickpeas (Cicer arietinum) possess natural tolerance mechanisms that other crops lack. Chickpeas evolved in arid, mineral-heavy soils across the Middle East and South Asia, developing robust antioxidant systems and metal-chelating compounds in their root tissues.

The research team treated lunar regolith simulant with a minimal amendment — a thin layer of mycorrhizal fungi and a bacterial consortium designed to break down the regolith's sharp edges and begin nutrient cycling. The chickpea plants not only survived but produced viable seed pods after 90 days, demonstrating complete reproductive success. Nutrient analysis showed the harvested chickpeas contained adequate protein, iron, and folate levels for human consumption.

Implications for Long-Duration Space Missions

The significance extends far beyond a single crop experiment. NASA's Artemis program envisions a permanent lunar base by the mid-2030s, and the International Space Exploration Coordination Group has set a target of human Mars missions by the 2040s. Both scenarios require in-situ food production — it's simply not feasible to ship all food from Earth for multi-year missions.

Current estimates suggest that a crew of six on a Mars mission would require approximately 12,000 kg of food for a three-year round trip. Growing even 20% of that food locally would save roughly 2,400 kg of launch mass — equivalent to about $24 million in launch costs at current SpaceX Starship pricing. The economic case for space farming is as compelling as the nutritional one.

Chickpeas are particularly attractive as a space crop because they're a complete protein source (containing all essential amino acids), nitrogen-fixing (they actually improve soil fertility), and calorie-dense. A successful lunar chickpea farm would provide a dietary staple comparable to what the crop provides for over one billion people on Earth today.

References

Scientific American. (2026). These are the most exciting space science events for 2026. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/these-are-the-most-exciting-space-science-events-for-2026/

Space Discoveries. (2026). Space discoveries 2026: What scientists found recently. https://www.boulevardpetclinic.vet/space-discoveries/