Upland Cotton Seeds From China for Lunar Cotton on the Lunar Far Side

Summary: The first plant on the lunar far side sprouted from upland cotton seeds from China before succumbing to sudden cold stress syndrome Jan. 16, 2019.

Photo of Jan. 7, 2019, shows cotton plant germinating in tank aboard the Chang'e 4 lunar exploration mission's lander, far side of the moon; photo credit Chongqing University: LiveScience @livescience via Facebook Jan. 15, 2019

Upland cotton seeds account for China's first place among the world's cotton-producing countries and in the attempted lunar cotton production through the first-ever landing on the lunar far side Jan. 2-3, 2019.

The Chang'e (from Chinese 嫦娥, moon goddess) 4 lander's 5.7-pound (2.6-kilogram) container bears yeast, fruit fly eggs and cotton, potato, rapeseed and rockcress seeds. Xie Gengxin, Institute of Advanced Technology director at Chongqing University and experiment chief designer, caused Jan. 7 conjectured 5- to 10-day sprouting through in-canister, remote-controlled watering. Nothing deals with temperatures, between 212 degrees Fahrenheit (100 degrees Celsius) daily and minus 292 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 180 degrees Celsius) nightly, fatally disruptive to seedlings.

The 212.75-hour-old lunar cotton expired Jan. 16, 2019, from temperatures below minus 62 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 52 degrees Celsius) inside 115-mile- (186-kilometer-) wide Von Kármán crater.

Tree (Gossypium arboretum, from Greek γοσσύπιον, gossúpion, "cotton" and Latin arborētum) and upland (Gossypium hirsutum, from Latin hirsūtum, "hairy") cotton favor 150- to 225-day growing seasons.

Oval 0.12- to 0.19-inch- (0.3- to 0.5-centimeter-) long, 0.7- to 1.18-inch- (2- to 3-centimeter-) wide seeds gathered within gray-white short, long white fibers generate upland cotton. Oval, three- to five-compartmented 0.98- to 1.58-inch- (2.5- to 4-centimeter-) long, 0.79 to 1.18-inch- (2- to 3-centimeter-) wide capsules hold oil-, pigment-, protein-rich gray-fuzzed, white-haired seeds. The Malvaceae (from Latin malva, "mallow" and -āceae, "resembling") family member, identified in 1763 by Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1778), is yellow-flowering and red-wilting.

Leaf axils jumble antioxidant-rich, self-pollinating, summer-autumn upland cotton flowers that juggle 1.58- to 2.16-inch- (4- to 5.5-centimeter-) long, 1.38- to 1.77-inch- (3.5- to 4.5-centimeter-) wide petals.

The 1.07- to 6.56-foot- (0.6- to 2-meter-) tall shrub knows three-lobed, 1.97- to 3.94-inch- (5- to 10-centimeter-) long, 1.97- to 4.72-inch- (5- to 12-centimeter-) wide leaves.

Aphids, bollworms, seedling fungal diseases, spider mites, tobacco thrips, verticillium wilt and whiteflies level upland cotton and lead commercial production toward chemical- and labor-intensive, soil-polluting technologies. Jianlong Dai and Hezhong Dong of the Ministry of Agriculture and Shandong Academy of Agricultural Science mention double-cropping, plastic mulching, seedling transplanting and super-high density training. Their article in Field Crops Research January 2014 presciently notes, "China's cotton production would be sustainable with a bright prospect if supported by new farming techniques."

Ten-plus million workers in the Huang-Huai, Xinjiang Autonomous and Yangtse River Basin Regions occasion 30 percent of cotton output from 15 percent of cotton lands worldwide.

Commercial production of upland cotton prevails in subtropical, temperate and tropical zones between latitudes 37 degrees north and 30 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane.

Soil pHs that quantify hydrogen ion concentrations between 5.5 and 7.5 and temperatures no lower than 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15.56 degrees Celsius) qualify as upland cotton-friendly. Upland cotton requires ambient temperatures between 64.4 and 86 degrees Fahrenheit (18 and 30 degrees Celsius) and 19.68- to 49.21-inch (500- to 1,250-millimeter) irrigation or rainfall. It survives in aerated, aluminum-poor, nutrient-rich, porous, sunlit loam, well-drained to 3.28-foot (1-meter) depths, up through 4,921.26- to 6,561.68-foot (1,500- to 2,000-meter) altitudes above sea level.

The Chang'e mission took the first of perhaps fewer than Thomas Edison's (Feb. 11, 1847-Oct. 18, 1931) light bulb "invention with 1,000 steps" toward lunar cotton.

cotton boll, Yangtze River Basin Region, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), southeastern China; Sept. 24, 2006: Azzurro, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Photo of Jan. 7, 2019, shows cotton plant germinating in tank aboard the Chang'e 4 lunar exploration mission's lander, far side of the moon; photo credit Chongqing University: LiveScience @livescience via Facebook Jan. 15, 2019, @ https://www.facebook.com/livescience/posts/10155770678616761

cotton boll, Yangtze River Basin Region, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), southeastern China; Sept. 24, 2006: Azzurro, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baumwollkapsel.JPG

For further information:

Abaza, Hussein; and Venna Jha, eds. "The Cotton Sector in China." Integrated Assessment of Trade Liberalization and Trade-Related Policies: UNEP [United Nations Environment Programme] Country Projects -- Round II: A Synthesis Report: 57-76. New York NY; Geneva, Switzerland: United Nations, 2002.
Available @ https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/25968/IA_trade.pdf?

Baker, Sinéad. 15 January 2019. "China Says It Has Grown the First Plants on the Moon on Its Historic Mission to the Far Side." Business Insider.
Available @ https://www.businessinsider.com/china-grows-first-ever-plants-moon-far-side-2019-1

"China's Moon Mission Sees First Seeds Sprout." BBC > News > Asia > China > China Moon Mission.
Available @ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-46873526

Cockburn, Harry. 16 January 2019. "China Grows First Ever Plant on Moon." Independent > News > Science.
Available @ https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/china-grows-plants-moon-lunar-probe-change-4-cotton-seeds-space-a8729206.html

Dai, Jianlong; and Hezhong Dong. January 2014. "Intensive Cotton Farming Technologies in China: Achievements, Challenges and Countermeasures." Field Crops Research, vol. 155: 99-110. https://doi.org.10.1016/j.fcr.2013.09.017
Available via ScienceDirect @ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378429013003237

Grush, Loren. 15 January 2019. "China's Lunar Lander Successfully Sprouts Cotton on the Moon." The Verge > Science > Space.
Available @ https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/15/18183483/china-change-4-mission-moon-lander-far-side-cotton-biology-plant-experiment

Kooser, Amanda. 15 January 2019. "China's Moon Lander Sprouted a Plant, But Now It's Dead." CNET > Sci-Tech.
Available @ https://www.cnet.com/news/chinas-moon-lander-sprouted-a-plant-but-now-its-dead/

Letzter, Rafi. 16 January 2019. "Those Tiny Cotton Sprouts China Grew on the Moon? They're Dead Now." LiveScience > Space
Available @ https://www.livescience.com/64521-sad-moon-cotton-dies.html

Linnæi, Caroli (Carl Linnaeus). 1763. "Gossypium." Species Plantarum: Exhibentes Plantas Rite Cognitas, Ad Genera Relatas, Cum Differentiis Specificis, Nominibus Trivialibus, Synonymis Selectis, Locis Natalibus, Secundum Systema Sexuale Digestas. Tomus II: 875. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/11834362

LiveScience @livescience. 15 January 2019. "Cotton Seed Sprouts on the Moon's Far Side in Historic First by China's Chang'e 4." Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/livescience/posts/10155770678616761

O'Callaghan, Jonathan. 15 January 2019. "China Grows Plants on the Moon for the First Time Ever." Forbes > Science.
Available @ https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanocallaghan/2019/01/15/china-is-growing-life-on-the-moon-for-the-first-time-in-history/

Steer, George. 15 January 2019. "China Grows the First Seed on the Moon." Time > Science > Space.
Available @ http://time.com/5503056/first-plant-moon-china/

Wall, Mike. 16 January 2019. "China's Moon Plants Are Dead." Space.com > Science & Astronomy.
Available @ https://www.space.com/43025-china-moon-mission-plants-dead.html

Westcott, Ben; and Yong Xiong. 15 January 2019. "China Might Just Have Grown the First Plant Ever on the Moon." Click2Houston > News > Talkers.
Available @ https://www.click2houston.com/news/talkers/china-might-just-have-grown-the-first-plant-ever-on-the-moon

Yang Yi. (Ed.). 15 January 2019. "Moon Sees First Cotton-Seed Sprout." XinhuaNet.
Available @ http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-01/15/c_137745115.htm

Xiong, Yong; and Ben Westcott. 17 January 2019. "China's First Plant to Grow on the Moon Is Already Dead." Cable News Network > World > Asia.
Available @ https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/17/asia/china-moon-seed-dead-intl/index.html