Barley despatched to area by U of Guelph returns to Earth on technique to being became whisky

By Antonio D. Vela On Sep 1, 2022

Barley sent to space by the University of Guelph has returned to Earth, where its crop will be used to make a limited edition whisky.

Some out of this world whiskey is a step closer to the glasses of connoisseurs.

On its social media accounts, Scottish whiskey distiller Glenlivet announced barley seeds sent to the International Space Station as part of a University of Guelph experiment have returned to Earth, where their resulting crop will be malted and distilled into a special edition whiskey.

Announced last year, the university’s experiment saw the seeds “exposed to zero gravity, cosmic radiation and wild 200-degree temperature swings as the (International Space Station) orbits behind Earth’s shadow and back again into the intense heat of the sun,” according to a post on the U of G’s website at the time.

“This experiment represents the extreme conditions that plant-based biologicals such as seeds would be subjected to if we create self-sustaining life support systems in space,” Dr. Mike Dixon, a professor in the university’s School of Environmental Sciences, adds in the 2021 post.

“Knowing how food sources will fare in such harsh environments is a small but significant incremental step in the long, scientific investigation to supporting human life in space.”