(Yicai Global) Jan. 15 -- The dream of growing plant seeds on the Earth's only natural satellite has been realized, according to scientists at China's Chongqing University.

China's Chang'e-4 lunar probe sent back photos of a biological experiment on the far side of the Moon on Jan. 12, showing shoots growing well inside a container, Science and Technology Daily reported. The can contains seeds of cotton, canola, potatoes and Arabidopsis, as well as yeast and fruit flies to form a simple micro-ecosystem, the report added.

This is humanity's first biological experiment on the lunar surface, cultivating the first shoots and then growing the first green leaves, Prof. Xie Gengxin, dean of Chongqing University's Institute of Advanced Technology, was reported as saying at a press conference.

The project team performed comparative experiments on the Earth and the Moon at the same time to further highlight the value of scientific research from the biological experiment, comparing the growth of same ecosystems (closed space) under different conditions on the Earth and the Moon, and that under natural conditions (open space) on the Earth.

Judging from the results, plants on the Moon sprout faster than on our planet.

Xie said both sets of experiments are being carried out at the same temperature and humidity. The difference is that sunshine on the Moon is worse than that on the Earth, but it shines for 24 hours and there is radiation present. They will conduct further research to find out the reasons for faster germination on the Moon.

Experiments show that the most high-temperature-resistant cotton seeds germinated first, followed by rapeseed, while the remaining low-temperature-resistant seeds failed to germinate.

The project team will figure out what conditions are needed for plant growth on the Moon and the Earth, and do further research on some of the interesting sites found. They will also expand the size of the biological experiment and add more updated research content, the report said.

China's National Space Administration, Ministry of Education, Academy of Sciences, Association for Science and Technology and the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League jointly started collecting experiment projects to be loaded on to Chang'e-4 in 2015. Chongqing University's was chosen at the end of 2016.

The seed experiment's container is made of a special aluminum alloy material, 173 millimeters in diameter and 198.3mm in height. Apart from seeds and insects, it also contains 18 milliliters of water, soil, air, a thermal control and two cameras that record growth. It weighs 2.608 kilograms and has a biological growth space of about 1 liter.