By Andi Anderson
Youth teams from Iowa have earned international recognition and state level awards for their achievements in the Plant the Moon Challenge a global science research program focused on growing crops in lunar and Martian soil simulants.
The awards were announced during the 2025 Fall Plant the Moon Challenge Awards Program held on January 14.
The Plant the Moon Challenge is an international project led by the Institute of Competition Sciences in collaboration with NASA and scientific advisors as part of the Artemis space exploration mission.
The program encourages students to conduct real research that supports future food production in space while building strong scientific skills.
In the Plant the Moon Junior division the SPX Navy 4 Team from Urbandale was recognized internationally for excellence in their project and report titled An Analysis of Music and Temperature on Lettuce Growth in Lunar Soil.
Led by Marci Shell at St Pius X Catholic School the students explored whether music and water temperature influenced plant growth.
“Our data can help astronauts understand how plants thrive best with music and warm room water temperature in order to best help plants grow in space,” a team member said.
In the high school division Team APES 7 A from City High in Iowa City received international recognition for their project Effects of Eggshells and Coffee Grounds on Daucus Carota Carrot Plant Growth.
Led by Mary Lesinta the team found that these materials improved growth in lunar simulant soil and noted the value of their findings for long term food systems in space and on other planets.
Several teams also earned Iowa Best in Show honors through Iowa 4-H. SPX Maroon 5 from Urbandale was recognized for the most creative junior project Worm Waters from City High received the most creative project award and Team Tater from City High earned the best report award.
Team Tater explained their temperature based experiment design saying “The greenhouse was meant to represent an environment with a higher temperature The pot under the light was meant to represent a temperature slightly above room temperature but not by much We did this because the moon varies widely in temperature from 250 to minus 208 degrees Fahrenheit Obviously we had no setup to emulate those temperatures but we assume that to grow potatoes on the moon the temp would vary at least a little bit.”
Worm Waters also shared their research goals stating “We wanted to test how a gardening technique of reusing boiled water used in making foods eg pasta rice would affect plant growth since it could be used to effectively supplement the nutrients and organic material that plants would be missing in lunar regolith.”
Another team member added “We believe that if this method proves effective in promoting plant growth it could be a basis for research into new kinds of nutrient solutions that could be used in lunar agriculture possibly by utilizing polar ice alongside powdered mixes or just reused cook water like we used in our experiment.”
Funding and support for Iowa teams were provided by the Iowa Governor’s STEM Council STEM Scale up Programs along with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach 4-H Youth Development the Iowa 4-H Foundation and the NASA Iowa Space Grant Consortium. Around 80 Iowa teams are expected to participate again in the Spring 2026 challenge.
“The Plant the Moon Challenge is an excellent opportunity for youth to engage in real research,” said Maya Hayslett Iowa 4-H crop science education specialist with ISU Extension and Outreach. “I love that youth not only get to design and implement their own research projects but they also receive feedback from expert scientists I’d like to thank the Institute of Competition Sciences the Governor’s STEM Council Iowa State University Extension and Outreach the Iowa 4-H Foundation and all the team leaders for making this program possible We applaud the hard work and creative thinking of these young scientists.”
Photo Credit: gettyimages-poike
Categories: Iowa, Education, Rural Lifestyle