A team of researchers from Imperial College London, Cranfield University, and space technology companies Frontier Space and ATMOS Space Cargo have launched a miniature laboratory into Earth’s orbit. This lab contains genetically engineered microbes designed to produce proteins and other materials such as pharmaceuticals, fuel, and bioplastics in space.
“Our technology will help mature bio-experimentation solutions for future space environments”
The mission, which began on April 21, 2025, aboard Europe’s first commercial returnable spacecraft, Phoenix, via SpaceX, aims to explore the feasibility of using microbes in space for sustainable food production. The microbe specimens will be returned to Earth for analysis, with the goal of understanding how microgravity, long-term storage, and space transportation affect their ability to produce useful resources.
The need for efficient food production in space has become increasingly pressing as human space exploration expands. Transporting food, water, and fuel for astronauts is costly and inefficient, with estimates suggesting that feeding a single astronaut could cost up to £20,000 per day, as cited by Imperial College. The use of engineered yeasts in space, capable of producing essential supplies through precision fermentation, is a potential solution to these logistical challenges.
Bringing the future closer
Dr. Rodrigo Ledesma-Amaro from Imperial’s Department of Bioengineering, who is leading the project, noted that the collaboration between academia and industry is crucial for addressing the complex challenges of space travel. “If just a handful of cultivated cells could provide all our food, pharmaceuticals, fuels, and bioplastics using freely available resources, that would bring the future closer,” said Dr. Ledesma-Amaro.
This project builds on Dr. Ledesma-Amaro’s work at the Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein and Microbial Food Hub at Imperial College, where he focuses on developing environmentally friendly, nutritious, and affordable non-animal foods on Earth. His team’s research into space-based food production is part of a broader effort to explore sustainable and scalable alternatives to traditional food sources.
A key component of the mission is the SpaceLab Mark 1, a “lab-in-a-box” technology developed by Frontier Space. This innovation allows researchers to conduct sophisticated experiments in microgravity, overcoming many of the traditional barriers to space-based research.
Potential beyond space exploration
The insights gained from this experiment could have far-reaching implications not only for space exploration but also for advancements in space-based manufacturing, pharmaceutical research, and long-duration space missions. This follows a growing interest in the potential for space-based food production, including previous studies by the European Space Agency (ESA) and SpaceX, which have explored growing meat and proteins in space using bioreactors and other methods.
Aqeel Shamsul, CEO of Frontier Space, commented, “This mission represents a major milestone in democratizing access to space research. Our technology will help mature bio-experimentation solutions for future space environments, including the infrastructure that will follow the International Space Station.”
