Cowpea seeds sprouts in space, leaves expected soon, says ISRO

Sat Jan 04 13:35:11 UTC 2025: ## ISRO’s Space Triumph: Cowpea Seeds Sprout, Robotic Arm Succeeds

**Bengaluru, January 4, 2025** – The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced a double success today, reporting the successful germination of cowpea seeds in space and the operational debut of India’s first space robotic arm.

The cowpea seeds, part of the CROPS (Compact Research Module for Orbital Plant Studies) experiment aboard the PSLV-C60 SpaDeX mission’s POEM-4 module, sprouted just four days after launch on December 30, 2024. ISRO’s X posts celebrated the milestone, stating that leaves are expected soon. The CROPS experiment aims to develop ISRO’s capabilities for growing plants in extraterrestrial environments. The fully automated system will test seed germination and plant sustenance in a microgravity environment.

Simultaneously, ISRO confirmed the successful operation of the Relocatable Robotic Manipulator-Technology Demonstrator (RRM-TD), India’s first space robotic arm. Developed by IISU, the 7-Degree-of-Freedom arm, also known as the “Walking Robotic Arm,” demonstrated its “inchworm walking” capabilities on the POEM-4 platform. This technology is considered a crucial step towards enabling in-orbit servicing and is seen as a precursor for technologies needed for the future Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS).

Both experiments were among 24 payloads launched on the PSLV-C60 mission. The successful germination of the cowpea seeds and the functionality of the robotic arm represent significant advancements in India’s space exploration program.