SpaceX Capsule Will Send Cannabis To The International Space Station Next Year

Last Sunday, a SpaceX capsule finished its trip to the International Space Station and unloaded approximately three tons of merchandise. The next supply journey to the ISS is planned to take place on March next year. If you think this year’s load of mighty mice is weird, wait until you know what comes in 2020. It is cannabis.

A few days ago, Front Range Bioscience, an agriculture-tech firm made public its plan to ship cannabis to the International Space Station. However, the astronauts there have no intention to get high on duty; instead, what they will get is hemp’s plant cultures, which contain little compound THC and are totally legal.

These cultures will remain in the incubator of the ISS for around 30 days under the monitor of a partner of Front Range, BioServe Space Technologies from the University of Colorado.

When the 30-day time is up, the said cannabis will be sent back to Earth and the company will analyze their genes to see if radiation in space and microgravity have any effect on them.

According to Jonathan Vaught, CEO of Front Range Bioscience, science has proven that plants may mutate when they are in space. So the company takes this chance to test if these mutations stay with the plants once they are shipped back to Earth and if yes if we can have any practical applications out of this occurrence.

This experiment might pave the way for producing space coffee or pot, or according to the company, solutions to our current pressing environmental issues. For example, the results of the test may help us design plants that can withstand the harsh environment of areas affected by climate change.

In 2018, Front Range collaborated with Frinj Coffee to help coffee plants survive in Southern California, which used to be impossible for countries that do not belong to the equatorial regions.