Icelandic hemp seeds will be launched into space today aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket as part of a scientific mission to study how plant materials respond to space conditions. The seeds, sent from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, are expected to return to Iceland this autumn for analysis.
Marking a significant milestone
Icelandic hemp seeds will be among nearly 1,000 plant samples launched into space aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket today, RÚV reports. Initially scheduled for liftoff yesterday, the launch was delayed by 24 hours for unknown reasons, though rocket launches are often postponed due to factors such as adverse weather or technical issues. The seeds are part of MayaSat‑1, a biological incubator developed for the Mission Possible spacecraft, which carries nearly 1,000 plant samples from around the world.
The mission marks a significant milestone as one of the first commercial efforts to send and retrieve plant tissues and seeds from orbit for scientific study. Among those involved in the project is Meta Pahernik, an agricultural specialist who has spent the past 15 years focused on cultivating the hemp plant Cannabis sativa. Meta founded the company Greina to study how this plant can be grown under Icelandic conditions.
“It is a really hardy plant, so it can grow really [well] in different […] conditions, extreme conditions—from the deserts to cold places—and it can […] not just germinate, but […] produce a yield really fast. It’s a plant that can provide a lot of different materials for different kinds of use, from food to textiles. We can make wood products out of it. It’s the best medicine that we […] have,” Meta stated in an interview with RÚV published yesterday.
The rocket will launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California later today. The spacecraft Mission Possible will be placed in orbit at an altitude of over 500 kilometres, where it will complete three orbits around the Earth before reentering and landing in the ocean near Hawaii.
The seeds and plant tissues will not grow while in orbit. Instead, they are being sent into space to be exposed to conditions such as microgravity and cosmic radiation. After the brief orbital flight, a recovery team will retrieve the spacecraft and ensure that the samples are preserved and studied. If all goes according to plan, the hemp seeds will be returned to Iceland this autumn for further study, which Meta hopes will be conducted in collaboration with the Agricultural University of Iceland.
“What we hope to achieve with this mission is to put biological samples, different kinds, under the stress of microgravity and radiation, and, hopefully, we’re going to get the seeds back and they will germinate—and if this will be the case, then we’ll have hemp growing in Iceland that’s [been beyond] Earth’s orbit,” Meta concluded.
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