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NASA ARC — Lunar Plant Growth Experiment (LPX)

First attempt to validate a plant watering system for the lunar surface. Moon Express partnership never reached the Moon, but the concept persists through LEAF on Artemis III (different team, different hardware).

Updated: Session 98, 2026-04-07

Summary

The Lunar Plant Growth Experiment (LPX) was Chris McKay's attempt to grow the first plants on the Moon. The concept: a ~1 kg self-contained habitat with dry seeds, a microfluidics water delivery system, camera, and CO2 sensor, designed to ride as a payload on Moon Express's Google Lunar X-Prize lander. The FO parabolic flight tested whether the water delivery system could disperse water evenly to seeds under lunar gravity (0.16g). The flight succeeded — the microfluidics system worked — but Moon Express never reached the Moon (GLXP expired March 2018 without a winner). McKay continued publishing on the concept through at least 2021 (NTRS paper for Lunar Surface Science Workshop), but LPX hardware was never deployed.

A conceptually similar experiment — LEAF (Lunar Effects on Agricultural Flora) — was selected for Artemis III in March 2024, led by Space Lab Technologies (Christine Escobar, PI). LEAF also grows Arabidopsis on the lunar surface, but uses different hardware and a different team. The connection is conceptual ancestry, not direct technology transfer.

Outcome category: Concept Validated, Destination Lost — microfluidics water delivery worked in lunar gravity, but the lunar landing opportunity evaporated with GLXP. Conceptual successor (LEAF) exists through a different path.

People

Person Role Affiliations Notes
Christopher P. McKay PI NASA ARC Senior Scientist Prominent astrobiologist; Mars habitability research; Atacama Desert work; published concept through 2021
John Z. Kiss Co-author (NTRS 2020) UNC Greensboro (previously Miami University) Plant gravitropism expert; ISS experiments
Robert N. Bowman Co-author (NTRS 2020) — Hardware development
Mera Horne Co-author (NTRS 2020) — —
Kamrul Choudhury Co-author (NTRS 2020) — —

FO Project

91334 — Lunar Plant Growth Experiment (LPX) Testing

  • Period: 2014-08-15 to 2016-08-15
  • TRL: 5 → 6
  • Status: Completed
  • TX: TX06.3.5 (Food Production, Processing, and Preservation)
  • Lead Org: Ames Research Center (NASA Center)
  • Destination: Moon and Cislunar
  • Views: 640
  • What it was: Parabolic flight test of microfluidics water delivery system to verify it could disperse water to all seeds under lunar gravity. Tested the risk of bubbles and uneven water dispersion.
  • Key result: Water delivery system functioned correctly in lunar gravity parabolas (20-second windows). Verified that microfluidics could distribute water evenly to seeds.

Predecessor: ARC CIF Lunar Plants Prototype

10602 — Lunar Plants Prototype for Moon Express

  • Program: ARC Center Innovation Fund (CIF), 2013
  • Lead Org: Ames Research Center
  • Status: Completed
  • What it was: Built the prototype self-contained plant habitat for Moon Express partnership. ~1 kg habitat with seeds, water, camera, CO2 sensor. CDR completed.
  • Relationship to FO [91334]: Legitimate lineage. The CIF project built the prototype; the FO project flight-tested the water delivery subsystem in lunar gravity. TechPort correctly records this as "Advanced From."

This is one of the few correct technologyOutcomes lineage links in the FO portfolio.

The Moon Express / GLXP Story

LPX was designed for Moon Express, one of five finalist teams in the Google Lunar X-Prize ($30M prize for first private lunar landing). The competition expired on March 31, 2018 without a winner. Moon Express raised $45M+ in funding but never launched. The company appears to still exist as a corporate entity but has no visible activity since ~2019.

Impact on LPX: The lunar landing opportunity disappeared. The hardware was validated for lunar gravity but had no ride to the Moon. McKay continued the concept as a paper study — the 2020 NTRS publication ("Novel Hardware for a Lunar Plant Experiment") presented the design at the Lunar Surface Science Workshop (Jan 2021) with no stated mission.

Publications

  1. McKay, C.P., Kiss, J.Z., Bowman, R.N., Horne, M., Choudhury, K. "Novel Hardware for a Lunar Plant Experiment." Presented at Lunar Surface Science Workshop, Jan 20-21, 2021 (virtual). NTRS: 20205011821.
  2. Describes 10-day Arabidopsis growth experiment in sealed chamber; 50+ seeds; CO2 monitoring; temperature control (22-23C); landing sites at 73-77 degrees latitude.

Conceptual Connection to LEAF (Artemis III)

LEAF (Lunar Effects on Agricultural Flora) was selected as one of three Artemis III deployed instruments in March 2024: - PI: Christine Escobar, Space Lab Technologies LLC (Boulder, CO) - Team: Space Lab + Kennedy Space Center + CU Boulder + Purdue + USDA + La Trobe University + University of Adelaide - Species: Arabidopsis thaliana + Brassica rapa (Wisconsin Fast Plants) + Wolffia (duckweed) - Scope: Growth, photosynthesis, systemic stress responses in lunar radiation + partial gravity

Shared elements with LPX: Arabidopsis species, sealed growth chamber, lunar surface deployment, NASA Ames heritage.

Differences: LEAF is led by Space Lab Technologies (an FO company — see Space Lab Technologies page, FO project 106694). Different hardware, different team, much broader scope (3 species, photosynthesis measurement, radiation effects). McKay is not listed as a LEAF team member.

Assessment: The LPX concept ("grow Arabidopsis on the Moon") clearly influenced the field, and McKay's publications kept the concept alive. But LEAF's selection is attributable to Space Lab Technologies' own FO flight heritage and team, not to direct LPX technology transfer. The connection is conceptual ancestry (suggestive), not direct lineage.

technologyOutcomes — Data Quality

Outcome Linked Project Assessment
Advanced From 10602 ARC CIF: Lunar Plants Prototype for Moon Express LEGITIMATE — same PI, same center, same topic. CIF built prototype, FO tested it.
Advanced To 14682 GRC CIF: Early Detection of Overheating PTFE Insulated Wires ERRONEOUS — different center, different field, different program.

The "Advanced To" date (Feb 2014) predates the FO project start (Aug 2014), consistent with the temporal confusion pattern documented in TechPort Outcome Data Quality.

Federal Contracts

No USASpending search performed — this is a NASA center-led project (ARC), so funding flows through internal NASA channels, not external contracts.

Timeline

Year Event
2013 ARC CIF: Lunar Plants Prototype for Moon Express [10602]
2014 FO LPX testing begins — parabolic flights
2016 FO LPX completes — microfluidics validated in lunar g
2018 Google Lunar X-Prize expires without winner — Moon Express landing opportunity lost
2021 McKay NTRS paper: "Novel Hardware for a Lunar Plant Experiment" (Lunar Surface Science Workshop)
2024 LEAF selected for Artemis III (Space Lab Technologies, different team)
2027+ Artemis III LEAF deployment (NET 2027, delayed from 2026)

Assessment

This project illustrates a common FO risk: technology validated but destination dependent. LPX proved the microfluidics water delivery concept in lunar gravity, but required a lunar lander to reach the surface. When Moon Express failed, the hardware had no path forward. McKay (a NASA center scientist, not a startup founder) kept the concept alive through publications but didn't have the institutional mechanism to build a company or secure a new landing opportunity.

The irony: Space Lab Technologies — an FO-funded startup — won the Artemis III lunar biology slot with a similar concept. The concept survived the 8-year gap between LPX and LEAF, but through a different organization that built its own flight heritage through FO.

Archetype: NASA center technology, destination-dependent — see also ADEPT (awaiting mission selection) and AVA (market overtaken).