Express By Sam Whitworth 12/12/2019
SPACEX has teamed up with a colorado firm to transport cannabis and coffee plants to the International Space Station in March next year.
The reasons behind the unconventional space cargo is to experiment with the effects of zero gravity on the plants. It comes after it was revealed in October that the firm’s CEO Elon Musk apologised to his employees after smoking pot. Ultimately those behind the experiment hope to see if the plants will be genetically alter in the environment, and see if there is a way to design more resilient vegetation for areas severely effected by climate change.
Front Range Biosciences, an agricultural biotech company partnered with the University of Colorado and tech start up Space Cells to launch more than 480 plant cell cultures in an incubator made for space.
The samples will be transported aboard the SpaceX CRS-20 cargo flight that is set for March 2020.
Dr. Jonathan Vaught, Co-Founder and CEO of Front Range Biosciences, said: “This is one of the first times anyone is researching the effects of microgravity and spaceflight on hemp and coffee cell cultures.
More:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1216088/spacex-news-elon-musk-latest-space-update-cannabis-space-NASA-updates-ISS
