Starbase Brewing Sends Barley to Space in First-of-Its-Kind Experiment
Starbase has always stated that their goal is to be the “first brewery on the moon” and on Thursday, July 31, they took an early step in that direction. Starbase Brewing saw its first two spaceflight payloads launch to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard NASA’s Crew-11 mission. One of them could bring humanity a step closer to enjoying beer on Mars.
The experiment, called OASIS (an acronym for Optimizing Agriculture in Simulated Interplanetary Soils) marks the first attempt to grow crops in soil in space, specifically Martian soil simulant. Starbase Brewing is working with Texas A&M AgriLife and Jaguar Space to investigate whether barley, the essential grain in beer production, can thrive under Martian conditions.
Brewing Byproduct Meets Martian Soil
The concept behind OASIS is straightforward: combine Martian regolith simulant with spent grain. Spent grain shows significant promise in improving crop growth in Earth-based trials. Over the past two years, Starbase Brewing and Texas A&M AgriLife have successfully grown plants in simulated Martian and Lunar soils using spent grain, and the space-based trial will now test whether those results hold true in microgravity.
The OASIS experiment uses JSC-Mars-1 regolith simulant combined with beneficial microbes including Saccromyces cerevisiae, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Azotobacter chroococcum, and Azospirilium brasilense. These microbes are chosen for their ability to work with spent grain to enhance plant growth in challenging conditions.
Barley on the ISS
Once aboard the ISS, barley seeds will be grown in specialized chambers under the station’s unique conditions of microgravity and radiation. Barley is a versatile crop used in breads, cereals, and of course beer, making it a critical candidate for future space agriculture.
The barley will germinate and grow during the mission before returning to Earth in a SpaceX Dragon capsule. Researchers will then analyze nutrient absorption, genetic stability, microbial activity, and other factors. A matching control group will be grown on Earth for comparison, helping determine how space conditions affect soil chemistry and plant development.
Paving the Way for Martian Brewing
The work is part of a broader goal to enable sustainable farming for future settlements on Mars. For Starbase Brewing, it is also about ensuring that when humans eventually live on the Red Planet, they can bring a taste of home with them.
Partners on the project include Harrison R. Coker and Dr. Julie A. Howe of Texas A&M AgriLife, Dr. Luis Zea of Jaguar Space, and NASA. The OASIS mission represents an early but important step toward understanding how to grow food, and perhaps even brew beer, far beyond Earth.
The Crew-11 mission launched on its second attempt at 11:43:42 AM on August 1st. We look forwarding to bringing you more details once we start to see the results of the mission.
