An Australian-led space agriculture experiment will tomorrow launch to the International Space Station (ISS), marking a milestone for Australia’s growing space and advanced manufacturing sector.
“We have had to do months and months of ground testing for this experiment to send it to space, and everything needs to meet very stringent safety requirements before it can fly,” Project lead, Cheryl McCarthy, said.
The project, led by the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ) and funded by the iLAuNCH Trailblazer, will send two compact greenhouse payloads into orbit to study plant growth in microgravity using advanced imaging and artificial intelligence.
“In this project, we are sending two small greenhouses to the International Space Station which contain plants, and we are going to use cameras to monitor their growth,” McCarthy stated.
McCarthy and her team are currently in the United States completing final pre-launch preparations ahead of the scheduled 12 February 2026 (US time) lift-off.
The experiment will use camera systems to continuously monitor plant growth on the ISS, capturing daily imagery that will be analysed to detect plant stress before it becomes visible to the human eye.
Two plant chambers will be flown, one designed to support healthy growth conditions and the other to intentionally induce stress, allowing researchers to compare growth patterns in real time.
The launch will follow months of extensive ground testing, safety reviews and documentation to meet the strict requirements for payloads flown to the ISS.
The team has conducted multiple full practice runs of the experiment using the same components that will now be sent to space.
At the launch site, the team will finalise the experiment by sterilising the plant chambers, loading seeds and growth media, sealing the payload and handing it over for integration prior to launch.
Understanding how to grow plants reliably in space is critical for future long-duration and deep space missions, where plants are expected to play a role not only in food production, but also in materials and medical manufacturing.
The technology being tested also has strong applications on Earth, particularly in remote or automated agricultural environments.
Through the combination of machine vision, sensors and AI-driven analysis, the system could enable plants to be monitored and managed without constant human oversight.
The project has been funded by the iLAuNCH Trailblazer and led by UniSQ in collaboration with international and industry partners.
The American company, Axiom Space has provided spaceflight and payload expertise, while the German company, Yuri Gravity has supported experiment design, electronics manufacturing and launch logistics. Australian agricultural business Medicinal Harvest has supported ground-based trials of the technology.