Voyager Signs Contract to Manage Interstellar Lab’s Planned ISS Plant Experiment

Voyager Technologies signed a mission-management contract with Interstellar Lab for a planned plant-growth experiment aboard the International Space Station (ISS), covering work from payload engineering through on-orbit operations and return.

BioPod EDEN is a middeck locker-class payload with an AI-driven system designed to monitor and adjust plant-growing conditions. The experiment is designed to compare plant growth in orbit with a matching ground experiment. Its first mission is planned to run in orbit for 30 days to three months.

Voyager’s responsibilities include engineering support, assistance with NASA’s design and safety reviews, assembly, integration and testing, on-orbit activities, and returning the payload. NASA will determine the payload’s specific accommodation aboard the station.

After the experiment, a crew member is expected to select plant samples and store them at minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 20 degrees Celsius) for the trip back to Earth. The research is intended to inform future bioregenerative life-support systems for lunar and Mars missions and produce findings relevant to agriculture on Earth.

“Flying BioPod EDEN on the ISS gives researchers a faster path to conducting plant science in microgravity,” said Barbara Belvisi, founder and CEO of Interstellar Lab.

Voyager announced the contract on Oct. 26. The announcement did not disclose a launch date or contract value.