TEMPE, Ariz - An Arizona State student might be taking the first steps toward creating life on the moon.
Autumn Conner is busy enough these days trying to graduate in December with a degree in computer systems engineering.
Let’s just say it takes a certain kind of person to dive into that career field.
“I have a history of not only coming up with ideas, but really throwing myself into them," Conner says
Now she is taking one of her ideas to new heights, literally. Her latest project involves sending a capsule the size of a soda can to the moon, where it will hopefully create photosynthesis.
“Our idea is to send an extremophile cyanobacteria," which we know barely anybody reading this article will understand. Basically, this cyanobacteria can withstand extreme conditions, like the ones it will encounter on other planets. From there, Autumn and a group of students from India are hoping to create a reaction that will couple with sunlight and eventually photosynthesis. (Hopefully this journalism major is explaining things properly.)
Autumn didn't just dream this whole thing up overnight, in fact, she was approached by the students from India in an online physics forum.
“We designed it specifically so it could have all the parameters necessary to sustain this life form," Conner says.
The project is fully funded by a startup company called TeamIndus, which is a finalist in the Google Lunar XPRIZE competition. They solicited ideas from people around the world, and narrowed 3,000 submissions down to two.
Conner and her team are one of those ideas which will be funded for launch to the moon in a few months.