China’s Chang’e 4 probe successfully landed on the far side of the moon on Thursday and its Rover, named Yutu 2 (in Chinese folklore, Yutu is the white pet rabbit of Chang'e, the moon goddess), or Jade Rabbit 2, left the spacecraft and began exploring the moon’s surface. The Jiamusi Deep Space Station of Xi'an Satellite Control Center sent a picture of the front-line scientific researchers celebrating the achievement.

What has caused most attention is the news that the probe is carrying seeds for an experiment in cultivating vegetables in a closed environment on the lunar surface: reminding many of the recent movie The Martian where an experiment to grow potatoes went awry. The real-world probe is also equipped with a panorama camera and measuring devices.

It sounds like the mission to grow vegetables will begin along with Jade Rabbit 2’s mission to explore the Moon.

The picture above shows a cylindrical canister carried by Jade Rabbit 2 made from a special aluminum alloy with a total weight less than 3 kg. Guess what is contained in that canister? Yes, potato seeds just like in The Martian, but also Arabidopsis seeds, silkworm eggs, water and air.

As can be guessed from the contents of the canister the Jade Rabbit 2’s mission goes even further than that of the Hollywood blockbuster and aims to create a growing environment and ecological cycle for plants and animals! If the plan succeeds, the seeds may sprout and flower on the Moon and the silkworm may feed on them.

A smiling Arabidopsis

According to earlier reports, this “plant cultivation” project or technically, the Lunar Micro-ecosystem project, was initiated by the Center of Space Exploration of the Ministry of Education, and Chongqing University, which have together led the research efforts.