The Lichen Farmer of Luna
A Chronological Science Adventure

About this book:

On the Moon, oxygen doesn't come from trees—it comes from lichen. Twelve-year-old Milo has spent half his life tending the genetically engineered *Cladonia lunaris* that keeps fifty thousand colonists breathing in the permanent shadow of Shackleton Crater. He knows every moisture reading, every spore count, every hum of the irrigation drones. But when a single patch of vibrant blue-green turns to inert gray dust—and that dust starts appearing in the air ducts feeding the residential sectors—Milo and his grandfather uncover a silent collapse spreading through the colony's lungs. With the Warden prioritizing rocket fuel over water rations and the automated sensors blind to the threat, they have until shift change to find a cure before the dome goes quiet forever.

*The Lichen Farmer of Luna* is hard science fiction rooted in the gritty, beautiful reality of off-world survival: aerosol nutrient mists, orbital mirror arrays, clonal decay, and the terrifying mathematics of a closed ecological loop. But at its heart beats a deeply human story of a boy learning that stewardship isn't just data entry—it's the courage to break protocol when the system fails, to trust living things over efficiency metrics, and to fight for a future that can't be measured in supply-chain spreadsheets.

Perfect for fans of *The Martian*, *Project Hail Mary*, and *Red Mars* who crave rigorous worldbuilding with a pulse, this chronological adventure follows Milo from the first mysterious spore to a desperate surface run across the lunar vacuum. Twenty-six chapters. One colony. A single breath separating survival from silence.