Yes. A miso sample fermented aboard the International Space Station for 30 days in 2020 and returned to Earth recognizable as miso. A 2025 study also found differences between the space sample and two Earth batches—but with only one batch per location, it cannot show that microgravity caused those differences.
How the ISS miso experiment worked
Researchers sent miso-to-be to the ISS in early March 2020. It fermented there for 30 days, then returned to Earth. They compared it with batches fermented in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Copenhagen, Denmark. The flight was part of SpaceX CRS-20, according to the MIT Space Exploration Initiative.
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Miso is a traditional Japanese seasoning made with soybeans, salt, and kōji, a culture involving the fungus Aspergillus oryzae. The researchers combined environmental measurements with microbial DNA analysis, chemical analysis of flavor-related compounds, colorimetry, and sensory assessment. Their paper, “Food fermentation in space: Opportunities and challenges,” was published in iScience on April 2, 2025. Read the study.
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The researchers reported differences in temperature, microbial composition, flavor chemistry, color, and sensory profile. The study’s mean fermentation temperatures and aroma-compound concentrations were:
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| Location | Mean fermentation temperature | Mean aroma-compound concentration |
|---|---|---|
| International Space Station | 36.3 ± 1.8°C | 1,020 ± 410 μg/L |
| Cambridge, Massachusetts | 23.1 ± 0.9°C | 332 ± 210 μg/L |
| Copenhagen, Denmark | 19.9 ± 0.5°C | 177 ± 120 μg/L |
These are the study authors’ reported means and variability for the three batches. They found statistically significant temperature differences among sites. For aroma compounds, the ISS-to-Copenhagen difference was significant, but the ISS-to-Cambridge comparison was not.
The ISS sample contained 22.6 times as much ester as the Copenhagen sample. Its pyrazine level was 5.8 times Copenhagen’s and 29.9 times Cambridge’s. The authors suggest the warmer fermentation environment may have contributed to higher pyrazine levels. Those ratios describe these particular samples, not a general rule for space-fermented miso.
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Why the findings are exploratory
There was one batch at each location, with no replicate batches. The comparison therefore cannot separate the effects of location from ordinary batch variation, nor isolate microgravity from temperature, travel disturbance, or other differences between environments. The two Earth batches differed from each other too.
The authors interpret the results as consistent with faster fermentation in the ISS sample, possibly related to its warmer environment and perhaps travel disturbance or other factors. That is a hypothesis from a small experiment—not evidence that microgravity or radiation alone caused the observed changes.
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What the experiment does—and does not—show
The result establishes feasibility for this sample and process: miso fermented during a 30-day stay aboard the ISS and remained recognizable as miso in the study’s analysis. It does not show that every food can be fermented safely in space, that the ISS conditions caused a particular flavor, or that this experimental batch is a product for consumers. The paper’s description of its sample as safe should not be treated as a general food-safety guarantee.
Why study fermentation for space missions?
Long missions face limits on supplies, fresh ingredients, and resources. MIT’s Space Exploration Initiative presents fermentation as a possible way to develop flavorful food systems for space habitats. Its project page also describes an enclosed Space Fermentation Chamber under development and discusses potential applications such as managing food waste and preserving limited fresh ingredients. These are research aims, not outcomes demonstrated by the miso trial.
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The study likewise raises the possibility that fermentation could contribute to flavorful and nourishing foods for long-duration missions, while calling for more research across science, health, technology, and society. The published experiment is an early case study, not a ready-made solution for feeding a crew.
What “space miso” means here
It means an experimental sample made during a scientific study, not a retail miso product. The study’s bibliographic record is available through PubMed.
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