The Spring Institute for Forests on the Moon

Spreading life to the stars

Nothing is as scarce in this universe, or as beautiful, as life. We want to put the celebration of life at the center of space exploration. Through cutting-edge science, art and education, we are planting the seeds today for tomorrow’s forests on the Moon.

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SCAMPI Launch Announcement

It's happening!! 🚀 After years in the making, ups and downs, laughter and tears, SCAMPI is going to space on 13 October!An ecosystem with Three Hawaiian red shrimp, a strand of macroalgae, and millions of microbes will launch from Florida to the International Space Station, sealed inside a jar the…

REVIVE has successfully deployed - we're in space!

Project REVIVE has successfully reached orbit, aboard SpaceX's Transporter-17 mission, launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base. REVIVE traveled aboard Oasis Alpha, which separated successfully from the rocket (as seen in video above) carrying our prairie flower seeds and handwritten letter. This moment marks the culmination of months of work and…

Project REVIVE is going to space!

On July 7 2026, a small pod left Earth carrying two things: prairie flower seeds and a letter. The mission is REVIVE, the latest project from The Spring Institute. Integrated via Exolaunch, Tumbleweed’s Pod Alpha module launched aboard the Transporter-17 rideshare mission with SpaceX.REVIVE began as a scientific mission to send…

We've got some news...

We've got something exciting to share! For the past few months, we've been tinkering away at a secret project... We're sending seeds to space! REVIVE is an art project, created with resident artist Mélodie Le Corre, sending prairie flower seeds, and a handwritten letter to the future, into orbit. It's…

Can a Puddle Go to Space?

To support humans, future space habitats will require sustainable food sources, life support systems, and waste recycling. All of these operations rely on living organisms, but it will take more than just plants and a few animal species to get the job done. Only fully functional ecosystems can truly enable…

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Our Projects

The Revive Art Project

REVIVE began as a scientific mission to send a living micro-vernal pool into space, studying how ecosystems respond to microgravity. When a container leak was discovered ahead of the vibration test, the team chose to turn the scientific mission into an art piece.

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Project SCAMPI

SCAMPI, like the shrimp that inhabit the payload, is small but extraordinarily mighty. While our long-term goals would be to successfully sustain human life in space with BLSS, we are grounded in two specific objectives for this particular mission: determine the survivability of the ecosphere in space and examine the influence of space conditions on a multilevel ecological system.

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Lunar Regolith Simulant Database

This database gives researchers, engineers, and educators a centralized, searchable catalogue of lunar regolith simulants, built for traceability and standardization in space research.

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The Marshian Project

The Marshian project addresses the issue of wastewater treatment in space through the construction of an artificial wetland in a closed atmosphere environment.

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TICTACS Citizen Science Project

A citizen science project that advances research on closed ecosystems by sharing the cost and effort of maintaining multiple ecosystems worldwide over an extended period. Our unique terrarium includes a sensor kit to gather crucial data for the experiment.

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PLANT-B CubeSat Terrarium Mission

Plant-B is a mission to design and build a 3U cube satellite capable of passively lighting and heating a ~0.7L terrarium for 2-5 years while in orbit around the Earth.

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Explore more Projects

Help us plant the next seed. The Spring Institute is a non-profit association, and every project is made possible by the people who stand behind us. Whatever the amount, you become a Spring Gardener: part of the community growing life, here on Earth and one day on the Moon.