Whisky will be aged in space for the first time as part of a pioneering experiment that will also test how the spirit matures beyond Earth’s atmosphere.

Engineers in Scotland and Japan plan to send Scotch on a rocket in 2028 aboard the “Space Puffin” cubesat, which will deploy from the International Space Station’s Japanese module. The satellite will carry tiny whisky samples and their base ingredients on a five-year orbital mission.

Scientists hope the extreme temperature swings as the cubesat orbits Earth every 90 minutes could speed up maturation. Small wood chips will mimic cask ageing. Project leader Dr Gilles Bailet of the University of Glasgow expects “very bold” flavours with complex profiles.

Beyond whisky, the experiment probes how chemistry works in microgravity — insight relevant to future orbital factories that could make drug molecules difficult to produce on Earth.

The project was announced around October 4 and is funded by a grant from distillery-design consultancy Allen Associates. Dr Bailet said whisky offers a recognisable, well-understood model for studying chemical processes in microgravity, and previous research suggests space may grow larger, purer crystals and fold proteins in new ways. Different distilleries in Scotland and Japan are expected to contribute samples.