Can Hemp Grow in Space? Space X Will Find Out!

09 Mar Can Hemp Grow in Space? Space X Will Find Out!

Posted at 04:27h in Uncategorized by Carlos Hermida 0 Comments

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Can Hemp grow in space?

What are the effects of zero gravity on the plants life cycle?

The SpaceX CRS-20 has hemp stored in its cargo and it is getting super high…..

We mean that they launched hemp into space!

The spacecraft’s mission is to transport plant cultures to space to examine the effects of zero gravity on plant gene expression.

Lift off took place 3 days ago on March 6^th and they will reach about 220 miles above the earth.

Apparently, Space X felt that hemp would be an important plant to examine in this state. Good thinking since hemp is such a useful plant. Coffee is another one of the plants they will examine as well.

Why coffee? Well the mission is a partnership between Front Range Biosciences (FRB). FRB is an agriculture tech company that is focused on the breeding and nursery production of plant varieties and seeds from the hemp and coffee industries

SpaceCells USA Inc, BioServe Space Technologies, and the University of Colorado Boulder are also partnering on the mission.

What Exactly are They Doing to the Hemp Plant?

So, astronauts will be taking care of up to 480 hemp and coffee plant cell cultures will be placed in four space-made Plate Habitats (PHabs) for about 31 days. This whole process will be monitored remotely, as well, from BioServe’s operation center at the University of Colorado Boulder. After the 31 days they will be transferred back to earth. Researchers at FRB will then examine the samples to see how the plant’s genes held up in the zero gravity. Then those plants will be grown to maturity to see if any effects happened to their life cycle.