Leading researchers at the Plants for Space (P4S) Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence have made major breakthroughs in an international project to develop sustainable, self-sufficient plant growth systems for future space missions.
P4S, which is headquartered at the University of Adelaide, is part of a consortium involved in a collaborative project that aims to deliver a fully autonomous agriculture system to the world’s first commercial space station, being constructed by US company Axiom Space.
Funded by the UK Space Agency and the Australian Space Agency through the International Bilateral Fund, and led by global controlled environment agriculture company Vertical Future, the project has developed advanced plant imaging and sensor technologies to enable real-time, autonomous monitoring of plant growth.
The University of Adelaide was one of four sites across Australia and the UK to conduct trials supporting the project.
An interdisciplinary team, co-led by P4S Chief Investigator and Professor of Plant Synthetic Biology, Jenny Mortimer, used a pilot-scale vertical farm – developed by Vertical Future and housed at the university’s Waite campus – as a test-bed for developing these advanced technologies.
This involved growing a variety of plant species and conducting stress experiments to remotely monitor plant health under different conditions.
The images and data collected from these experiments are being used to train computer vision algorithms to detect early signs of distress and enable timely interventions. South Australian-based partner, Saber Astronautics, has developed secure methods to capture and integrate this remote data, ensuring it is effectively analysed and acted upon in real-time.
Professor Mortimer said these capabilities are vital for food production in space, where human intervention is limited and response times may be delayed.
“If you can identify crop stress early, you avoid losing productivity or entire experiments because it can take days to schedule astronaut time to address the issue. These technologies allow early detection and rapid response, whether that’s done automatically, remotely from Earth or on-site if needed,” she said.
“We’re building systems that can reliably grow fresh food in space to add nutrition, taste and texture, without needing constant expert care. The same approach helps on Earth too, in vertical farms or controlled environments, where early detection reduces labour and crop loss.”
One giant leap: Project achieves successful microgravity flight test
As part of the project, Vertical Future, which designs, manufacturers and deploys autonomous vertical farms across the world into multiple use cases, worked with Axiom Space to build and test a compact prototype unit, suitable for supporting the growth of plants in space aboard Axiom Station.
Equipped with a custom-built irrigation system, cameras, LED lighting panels and an integrated control system, the unit recently completed successful testing in microgravity on a ZERO-G parabolic flight.
Professor Mortimer said the testing marked a major milestone in the collaborative project and demonstrated the unit’s reliable irrigation performance in microgravity conditions. It also confirmed that key parts of the system are easily accessible, requiring minimal astronaut time to operate.
“These results represent a significant step towards operational readiness in spaceflight conditions and moves us closer to flight certification,” she said.
Opening avenues for international collaborations in space
The international partnerships formed through this project could unlock further opportunities for global collaboration and innovation in space agriculture, according to Professor Mortimer.
“This year-long project was a sprint, and a successful one at that. I believe it was only possible because of the key partnerships that had been developed through P4S,” she said.
“These links between the UK, Australia and the US, and between academia and industry have enabled non-traditional space industries to access the space sector, and for cutting-edge technologies to find on-Earth applications”
Established in 2024, P4S connects leading researchers, industry stakeholders and international collaborators to address the challenge of cultivating sustainable, nutritious food in space environments and on-Earth.
“We won’t be able to send humans on long space missions without solving the food problem – it’s a critical challenge that still hasn’t been fully addressed,” Professor Mortimer said.
“Growing plants will be essential for keeping astronauts healthy in an environment that’s already tough on the body, with microgravity, radiation and high stress levels. Providing fresh, nutritious food will be vital, so we must find reliable ways to grow it in space.
“A major focus of our research is the applications here on Earth. Climate change is already affecting food production, so developing systems that allow us to grow food reliably, all year round, is where we see our biggest impact.”
P4S adds significant capability to South Australia’s space ecosystem, helping position the state as a leader in the global space sector.
As a founding partner of P4S, the South Australian Space Industry Centre plays a pivotal role in promoting industry engagement and innovation in space and space-enabled sectors. Recognising the potential of P4S to advance sustainability terrestrially and in space, SASIC actively fosters industry connections and supports outreach activities aligned with P4S initiatives.
