Right this moment, Saturday November 26, an uncrewed SpaceX Dragon craft shall be launching to the Worldwide House Station. Packed contained in the Dragon, which shall be launched by a Falcon 9 rocket, shall be a pair of latest photo voltaic arrays for the house station, known as Worldwide House Station Roll Out Photo voltaic Arrays or iROSAs, in addition to a variety of science experiments and know-how demonstrations.
Additionally included within the supply shall be an experiment to develop a crop of dwarf tomatoes. Rising meals on the house station has been a subject of analysis as a result of it is going to be essential to develop meals for longer crewed house missions, equivalent to these deliberate to go to Mars, in order that astronauts can eat one thing recent. There’s additionally a psychological element to rising and consuming your individual meals that’s helpful for astronauts. Lots of the meals grown on the ISS so far have been leafy greens (although there have additionally been experiments into rising chiles, radishes, and extra), so the brand new experiment, known as VEG-05, will take a look at out rising tomatoes, together with investigating how mild and fertilizer have an effect on their progress.
One other experiment being delivered will look into micro organism discovered within the human intestine, known as Bacillus subtilis, which helps forestall foodborne illnesses and protects intestine well being. The experiment will see how the DNA of this bacterium is affected by spaceflight, in an effort to perceive extra about microbiology in house and to assist maintain astronauts wholesome.
There are additionally experiments involving trying on the construction of glass and metallic spheres produced in zero gravity, testing a sort of bone adhesive that might assist osteoporosis sufferers get well from damaged bones extra rapidly, and dealing on an implant that may robotically dispense medication to sufferers as wanted, even various the dose as required.
There may also be quite a few experiments on board designed by college students, together with one from California that seeks to see how carrot seeds germinate in house, and an experiment designed by college students in Michigan to see how blueberries decompose, which might be useful for effectively disposing of meals waste.
All of those experiments will launch on the SpaceX CRS-26 mission, set to launch at the moment. To observe the launch from dwelling, you may try our viewing information.
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