Inside SpaceX's Starfall Capsule Were Yeasts for Beer and Wine and Seeds from Various Plants

In recent days, a Falcon 9 rocket was launched carrying the first (experimental) capsule of SpaceX's Starfall project. The demonstration mission lasted only a few hours and was designed to test the hardware before more extensive use and opening up to customers who want to produce and experiment in a microgravity environment. As previously mentioned, this is not an original idea, but SpaceX could take it to a new level thanks to integration into ecosystems like space launches (and the large capital available).

According to reports, the mission was a success. The capsule was successfully launched and separated from the second stage to splash down in the Pacific Ocean (slowed by parachutes). It was unclear whether there were any additional tests underway, given the brevity of the mission, but it has now been disclosed that the Starfall capsule contained a testing system from Starbase Brewing.

The SpaceX Starfall Capsule and the Yeasts and Seeds in Space

The beverage production company stated that aboard Starfall was a system called the Brewery Archive Space Exposure Demonstrator for the MicroBrew-2 mission. Inside were several varieties of yeast for beer, wines, and other distillates from around the world. In the future, Starbase Brewing could launch dedicated products made from these microorganisms.

Also present within the system were seeds from many plants from Texas, including those of a variety of Lupinus that is tied to the state. The company will analyze the varieties of yeasts and seeds to see how they adapted to the space environment. Clearly, a duration of a few hours may not have brought about enough changes to be significantly different from a control sample kept on Earth, but this is just the beginning.

Starbase Brewing had previously conducted MicroBrew-1 and OASIS missions, however, these took place aboard the International Space Station last year. Previously, another brewery, Samuel Adams Boston Brewery, had taken hops to space during the private Inspiration4 mission, resulting in the Space Craft beer.

Starfall may also be used for the creation of new molecules, especially in the pharmaceutical field, or develop new techniques for manufacturing materials in microgravity without the need to involve more complex and expensive facilities like those of the ISS. SpaceX is not currently interested in using its capsules for internal projects, but this is not excluded in the long term. The capsules could be used to send payloads from one side of the world to the other in a very short time, although this use would be secondary to the production of pharmaceuticals, molecules, and materials in microgravity.