Barley Sent to International Space Station as Part of U of G Research

On a platform outside the orbiting International Space Station (ISS) sits a container holding a few hundred barley seeds that are part of a unique study led by University of Guelph researchers.

The research seeks to better understand what kinds of extreme conditions grain seeds can withstand in space. It’s all part of an experiment led by Dr. Mike Dixon, a professor in U of G’s School of Environmental Sciences and the director of the Controlled Environment Systems Research Facility (CESRF) with support from Scotch whisky business Chivas Brothers Ltd., which donated proprietary barley seed.

Last month, Dixon and his team, working with Alpha Space Test and Research Alliance, sent several thousand barley seeds in a SpaceX rocket to the ISS. A portion of those seeds were recently removed from the station and placed by the Canadarm into a compartment on an external platform called MISSE Science Carrier (Materials International Space Station Experiment).

There, the seeds are being exposed to zero gravity, cosmic radiation and wild 200-degree temperature swings as the ISS orbits behind Earth’s shadow and back again into the intense heat of the sun.

“This experiment represents the extreme conditions that plant-based biologicals such as seeds would be subjected to if we create self-sustaining life support systems in space,” said Dixon. “Knowing how food sources will fare in such harsh environments is a small but significant incremental step in the long scientific investigation to supporting human life in space.”

The barley seeds were supplied by Chivas Brothers, the UK’s No.2 producer of Scotch whisky and the owner of one of Scotland’s most iconic distilleries, The Glenlivet in Speyside, Scotland.

A larger volume of seeds will remain on board the ISS and may eventually be the source of seed for multiplying the quantity of seed with space heritage.