Crop development is a necessity for lunar colonies, as long-term human habitation relies on the ability to sustain its own food source. While the Moon is NASA’s next mission, it is quite an inadequate environment for crop
growth, due to the lack of gravity, water, and nutrient rich soil. Even in growth chambers, these crops still experience severe stressors and nutrient deficiencies from space travel. Microorganisms are used on Earth to
improve crop health and growth, recycling nutrients and protecting from disease and pollutants. This literature focuses on the theory that microbes are useful enough addition to lunar soil crop growth to justify actively
bringing them to the Moon. Current strides in microbial use in space, from projects actively adding microbes into reduced gravity crops to projects studying lunar soil models, were analyzed, determining how well microbes
assist in crop growth. Due to the hesitancy that many scientists have about the use of microorganisms in space, including known dangers of microorganisms and how space physiologically alters microorganisms, microbes
have not been widely applied to space travel. Most research attempts to mitigate the amount of microorganisms in space travel. However, despite any risks, microbes can be a vital addition to crop systems in lunar settlements,
increasing crop growth and resilience. For serious, long-term lunar colonization, microbes need to be utilized in these lunar soils and growth systems.