AI-run growth chamber will test how plants develop in microgravity against a matching experiment on Earth

Company Website: https://voyagertechnologies.com
HOUSTON -- (Business Wire)

Voyager Technologies (NYSE: VOYG) executeda mission management contract with Interstellar Lab to host BioPod EDEN, the company’s autonomous plant growth payload, aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

“Commercial companies are now delivering research capabilities that governments, space agencies and researchers around the world can put to work on the International Space Station,” said Mattia Pianorsi, managing director, Voyager Technologies Europe. “Our role is to help partners like Interstellar Lab get their systems to orbit and make those capabilities available to governmental and commercial customers alike, turning advanced concepts into operational missions.”

Under the contract, Voyager Technologies will provide end-to-end payload hosting for the middeck locker-class payload, including design and safety review support across NASA’s review phases; engineering and technical support; assembly, integration and testing; concept of operations and on-orbit activities; and return of the payload to the customer. The specific hosting accommodation aboard the ISS will be determined by NASA. The payload runs mostly autonomously once installed reducing crew time and at the end of the science mission a crew member will select plant samples and place them in cold storage at minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 20 Celsius) for the trip home.

BioPod EDEN is designed to push microgravity plant research beyond single-species demonstrations, cultivating flora in orbit to inform bioregenerative life support for future lunar and Mars missions while producing findings that apply to agriculture on Earth. At the heart of the payload is Interstellar Lab’s AI-driven operating system, which autonomously monitors, controls and optimizes the growth environment and compares it against the matching experiment running on the ground. The first mission is planned to run from 30 days up to 3 months on orbit.

“The faster we can do science in space the sooner we can grow food on the Moon,” said Barbara Belvisi, founder and CEO, Interstellar Lab. “Flying BioPod EDEN on the ISS givesresearchers a faster path to conducting plant science in microgravity, and every mission feedsdata back into our next iteration of hardware. Voyager gives us a proven route to the Station soour team can stay focused on the science, that will lead to a greenhouse on the Moon.”

“NASA showed that astronauts could grow and eat fresh food in space. Now Interstellar Lab is putting the next generation of plant growth hardware in the hands of agencies and researchers. That’s how we get to growing food on the Moon,” said Ralph Fritsche, VP of Space Science Programs and Operations at Interstellar Lab, who joined after 34 years with NASA at the Kennedy Space Center, where he most recently served as the Space Crop Production Project Manager.

The announcement comes as NASA advances its Faster to Science initiative to accelerate access to research in space. Voyager is already managing research missions for commercial and governmental customers worldwide, including Luxembourg-based Exobiosphere, whose automated drug screening platform is manifested for launch in 2027.

About Voyager Technologies

Voyager Technologies is a defense technology and space solutions company that enables mission-ready systems that secure today and power what’s next for the U.S. and partner nations. From propulsion and energetics to advanced electronics, mission management and space exploration, Voyager delivers capabilities that protect national security, reinforce the industrial base and expand human presence beyond Earth. For more information visit: voyagertechnologies.com and follow on LinkedIn and X.

About Interstellar Lab

Interstellar Lab is a technology and science company building autonomous greenhouse systems to grow life on Earth and in space. Winner of NASA's Deep Space Food Challenge, it gives agencies, researchers and commercial partners the capability to conduct plant research and produce crops in orbit and on the Moon. On Earth, Interstellar Lab provides ingredients and beauty leaders such as L'Oréal with autonomous greenhouses for high-value plant production. Headquartered in Florida with a subsidiary in France, Interstellar Lab has raised $17 million. For more information visit: interstellarlab.com and follow. For more information visit: interstellarlab.com and follow on LinkedIn and X.

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements:

This press release contains “forward-looking statements.” All statements, other than statements of historical fact, including those with respect to Voyager Technologies, Inc.’s (the “Company’s”) mission statement and growth strategy, are “forward-looking statements.” Although the Company’s management believes that such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee that such expectations are, or will be, correct. These forward-looking statements involve many risks and uncertainties, which could cause the Company’s future results to differ materially from those anticipated. Potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, the Company’s ability to sustain and generate growth, ability to generate a sustainable order rate for its products and services and develop new technologies to meet customer needs, general economic conditions and conditions affecting the industries in which the Company operates; the uncertainty of regulatory requirements and approvals; and the ability to obtain necessary financing on acceptable terms or at all. Readers should not place any undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve these known and unknown uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Company’s control and which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Any forward-looking statement reflects the Company’s current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261026268222/en/

Contacts:

Media Contacts

Nora Ellish, media@voyagertechnologies.com

Appolonia Belvisi, a.belvisi@interstellarlab.earth

Source: Voyager Technologies