By Alexandra Coffelt
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln's newest tree may just be the best-traveled member of the East Campus community. The sweetgum tree, planted on June 4, spent 25 days in space with NASA’s Artemis I mission during its time as a seed.
Forestry lecturer Ann Powers addressed a crowd of about 30 spectators from a sloped area of turf just east of UNL’s Hardin Hall and described the Moon Tree’s journey, as well as plans for its future.
An average sweetgum seed, Powers said, rides the wind for around 200 feet before it germinates. This sweetgum, affectionately called “Luna,” traveled some 1.3 million miles and completed three orbits around the moon.
Powers said she will eventually use the tree to introduce her students to concepts like seed dispersal, tree growth rates and changes in climate. Luna’s seed came from a mature sweetgum in central Louisiana, where its ancestors faced much milder winter conditions than Luna likely will in Nebraska.
"I’m a little concerned about that," Powers said. "But if it grows, it really will be a testament to that climate shifting and Nebraska's winters getting warmer."
UNL’s biological systems engineering department has plans to monitor the tree as it grows. Santosh Pitla, associate professor of advanced machinery systems, worked with Powers to apply for the Moon Tree.
Read more about the Moon Tree at https://snr.unl.edu/aboutus/what/newstory.aspx?fid=1159