SPACE SEEDS / 2013

From the classroom
to orbit.

Same batch of seeds. Two very different environments. One shared question: how does gravity shape the way a plant grows?

Azuki bean sprouts in Space Seeds experiment containers — Preparing the Azuki bean experiment. Photograph from the Space Seeds project archive.

Small observations.
A bigger perspective.

Space Seeds invited New Zealand schools and learners to grow Azuki beans alongside an experiment aboard the International Space Station.

JAXA supplied seeds from the same batch as those used for the space experiment. Participants could grow seedlings on Earth, observe their shape and development, and compare them with images returned from orbit.

It made microgravity something students could investigate with their own hands: not a distant concept, but a question sitting in a container on the classroom bench.

The 2013 project was made possible through JAXA and the Kibo-ABC initiative. It is presented here as a historical programme, rather than an invitation to order seed kits today.

An early seedling in a Space Seeds observation container

THE JOY OF AN EXPERIMENT

Look closely.
Ask what changed.

The archive follows the project from launch preparations to observations on Earth and updates from the ISS. Even a first sprout was worth celebrating.

The comparison opened a conversation about plant biology, gravity, careful observation and the science of living beyond Earth.

FROM THE ORIGINAL PROGRAMME