The Rooibos in Space project has advanced after Allison Arias, the US Consul General in Cape Town, held a farewell meeting for South African school and university scientific experiments heading to the United States. The rooibos seeds will travel with these experiments aboard the same spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS).
A total of 17,346 rooibos seeds, weighing about 74.2 grams, will be delivered to Voyager Technologies in Texas, where the experiment will be prepared for space flight. The seeds are divided into three groups: untreated, scarified, and scarified with protective agricultural coating.
Inside a specialized Nanolab, the rooibos experiment is designed to expose the seeds to microgravity and cosmic radiation before they return to Earth for further analysis. The Nanolab is a compact standardized research module intended to host experiments for space flights and the ISS. These connectable modules allow researchers to conduct experiments in space without needing large, custom-built equipment.
The Rooibos Nanolab is scheduled to fly to the ISS aboard the commercial transport spacecraft Cygnus NG-25. The mission is now expected to launch between December 2026 and January 2027. This revised date is due to changes in the Voyager/NASA flight schedule, including broader adjustments regarding crew and supplies, which led to the postponement of the flight originally planned for October for the rooibos experiment.
Douie de Villiers, Director of the South African Rooibos Council (SARC), noted: 'This is an important milestone for rooibos and for South Africans who have followed this project from the beginning.' He added that 'the scientific goal is to study what happens to rooibos seeds when exposed to conditions outside of Earth, opening up new opportunities to study this uniquely South African plant.'
The seeds are expected to remain in space for four to six weeks before returning to Earth. There, researchers will work with schools in the Cederberg region—the natural habitat of rooibos—and with Parkland College to plant the space-faring seeds alongside control seeds. Over eighteen months, students and researchers will track, measure, and analyze differences in germination, growth patterns, and plant development as they mature.
Student participation is a central element of the project, as it allows young people to contribute to current scientific research while developing practical skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The broader Rooibos in Space initiative includes engaging schools, promoting STEM education, and a national mission badge contest that invited youth aged 12 to 18 to design a unique badge for the mission.
For rooibos seed technician Kirill Ngkwala, preparing the experiment provided a rare opportunity to combine traditional knowledge of rooibos seeds with space science. Ngkwala shared: 'Working with the seeds, from preparation to Nanolab assembly, has been an incredible experience.' He continued: 'We prepared the seeds under various conditions so that when they return, we can compare their performance with seeds that remained on Earth. It is exciting to think that something as uniquely South African as rooibos is now part of a space experiment.'
The Rooibos in Space initiative was conceived by SARC and developed in collaboration with MaxIQ Space. This mission will be the first time that seeds of a local South African plant are sent into space for this type of research, creating a unique opportunity to study how rooibos—a plant uniquely adapted to the Cederberg region—responds to extreme space conditions.
