Yes, plants could grow in lunar regolith using bacteria. 

Explanation 

Lunar regolith is the powdery dust that sits on the moon’s surface. It isn’t a good environment for plants to grow in. However, adding bacteria to the soil can produce phosphorus, an essential element for plant growth that isn’t readily available in lunar soil. 

A Chinese research team conducted a series of experiments where they grew tobacco plants in simulated lunar soil with the help of bacteria. They found that plants grew better in soil treated with these helpful bacteria. The treated soil was more acidic, which helped make more phosphorus available for the plants. 

Growing plants in lunar soil is essential to reducing reliance on Earth since resupply missions are expensive and time-consuming.

In the next decade, NASA, China, and their international and commercial partners plan to establish habitats on the Moon. Through the Artemis Program, NASA will deploy the orbiting Lunar Gateway and the Artemis Base Camp on the lunar surface.

Bacteria can help plants grow in several ways, including: 

• Fixing nitrogen: Bacteria can convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form that plants can use, such as nitrate or ammonia. Nitrogen is a key component of many biological molecules, including proteins. 
• Providing nutrients: Bacteria can help plants obtain nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen. 
• Decomposing organic matter: Bacteria can help decompose dead organic matter and release simple compounds into the soil that plants can use. 
• Producing plant hormones: Bacteria can stimulate plant growth by producing plant hormones. 
• Defending plants: Bacteria can defend plants from other microbes that can make them sick. 

Bacteria that help plants grow are called Plant Growth Promoting bacteria (PGPB). 

Bacteria help plants use nitrogen by fixing it: 

1. 1. Nitrogen fixation Bacteria convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form that plants can use, such as nitrate or ammonia. 
2. 2. Symbiotic relationships Some plants, such as legumes, form symbiotic relationships with bacteria like Rhizobia to benefit from their nitrogen fixing capabilities. 
3. 3. Root nodules The bacteria invade the root hairs of host plants, where they multiply and stimulate formation of root nodules. 
4. 4. Enzymes The bacteria make a special enzyme called nitrogenase that controls the conversion of nitrogen to ammonia. 
5. 5. Plant tissues The fixed nitrogen is then carried to other parts of the plant and is used to form plant tissues, so the plant can grow. 
6. 6. Fertilizing soil When the plant dies, the fixed nitrogen is released, making it available to other plants.

Adding bacteria to lunar soil may help us live on the Moon, scientists say, after a new study combined three different bacteria on lunar soil to see how it would affect the growth of a plant. 

Researchers found that the three types of bacteria dramatically helped grow the plant – which was a relative of tobacco named Benth. The bacteria work by increasing the amount of a kind of phosphorus, a good source of nutrients, in the soil.( source google)

The scientists put Benth seeds into lunar soil treated with three bacteria: B. mucilaginosus, B. megaterium, and P. fluorescens and let the plants grow as usual. They found those plants treated with the bacteria had 104% more chlorophyll than those that had been grown in another soil that only contained dead bacteria, had longer stems and roots after six days of growth, and were heavier and had wider clusters of leaves after 24 days.

To establish a lunar base on the Moon, researchers need to find ways to grow plants, which requires improving the quality of the soil – and the trio of bacteria could be a key step in making this development.

The density of lunar regolith is about 1.5 g/cm3. However, the density increases with depth: 

• Surface: 1.1 g/cm3 
• 1 m depth: 1.8 g/cm3 
• 30 to 60 cm depth: 1.85 g/cm3 

The bulk of the regolith is a fine gray soil, but it also includes breccia and rock fragments from the local bedrock. The ratio of these various components varies widely from one soil to the next. 

The relative density of lunar soil is 48% at the surface, 82% at 10 cm, 93% at 30 cm, and 99% at 60 cm.

Lunar regolith is about 45% oxygen by mass. This oxygen is bound to metals such as iron and titanium, making it unavailable. 

Oxygen is often found in iron-rich lunar minerals and glasses as iron oxide. Such lunar minerals and glass include ilmenite, olivine, pyroxene, impact glass, and volcanic glass. 

Each cubic meter of lunar regolith contains 1.4 tonnes of minerals on average, including about 630 kilograms of oxygen. NASA says humans need to breathe about 800 grams of oxygen a day to survive. So 630kg oxygen would keep a person alive for about two years. 

This oxygen can be extracted if thermal, electrical, or chemical energy is invested to break the chemical bonds. Over twenty different methods have been proposed for oxygen extraction on the Moon.

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