DADE CITY, Fla. — It’s not something you see every day in your library.

It looks more like a scene in a sci-fi movie — plants growing in soil from the moon.

It’s an experiment library associates are running at Hugh Embry Library in Dade City.

They’re calling it “Project Moonraker.”

They’re working with NASA on a national research project called Plant the Moon. Schools and groups are trying to grow plants using simulated lunar soil.

They got the lunar soil from UCF’s Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science Lab. It’s simulated soil, but it’s made based off real rocks that came from the moon.

“It’s like concrete. It’s very, very fine dust. We have to be careful when we handle it,” said Sarah Pass, who is working on the project.

At Hugh Embry, they’re using that soil to grow kale. The experiment includes several pots of regular soil combined with lunar soil to see how the plants grow. In one case, kale is growing in a pot with 100% lunar soil.

“It’s not just throwing something in a pot and watching it grow. It’s measuring and weighing and seeing how much NASA does have to send into space. That’s been the fun part,” Pass said.

That’s one of the main points of the project.

NASA wants data from all these experiments to see how much earth soil they would need to send into space, for future manned bases on the moon and even on Mars, to grow food.

It’s something that’s caught the imagination of students of all ages who use the library. They are welcome to see the experiment and report their own observations.  

“We really think this is helping to bring a love of stem and science back into the community,” said library associate Shaina Smith.

They report their findings to NASA in April via a virtual summit.

For more information on the nationwide project, visit https://plantthemoon.com/.