South African rooibos seeds to be sent to space for study

Seeds from South Africa's rooibos plant are due to travel to the International Space Station for an experiment on how they respond to space conditions, organisers announced Thursday.

The mission, facilitated by MaxIQ Space, is planned for October. The South African Rooibos Council said the seeds are expected to return to Earth by December or January.

Dawie de Villiers, a director at the council, told AFP that the seeds would be the first indigenous South African species, and the first seeds from the African continent, to go to space. He said the aim is to expose them to microgravity and space radiation to study how they adapt and whether they could have a role in sustainable food production beyond Earth.

The seeds will be kept in a nanolab for at least six weeks with more than a dozen student experiments, as part of a MaxIQ Space programme intended to encourage learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects. After returning from space, the seeds will be planted beside control seeds and studied by school students for differences including germination and growth. Organisers said the work will contribute to global research into how plants respond to space conditions.

Rooibos is a South African plant used to make a sweet, caffeine-free infusion that is high in antioxidants and sold internationally. The name means "red bush" in Afrikaans. In 2021, rooibos was added to a European Union list of protected products, meaning only leaves cultivated in South Africa's southeastern Cederberg region can be sold as "rooibos" in EU countries.

The South African Rooibos Council says South Africa produces an average of 22,000 tons of rooibos a year, depending on rainfall and temperature. About half is consumed domestically, while the rest is exported to more than 50 countries, mainly Japan, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Britain.