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Hemp Plants Are Being Sent to the International Space Station

Space Hemp

Scientists at Space Tango, a bioengineering company, are going to send hemp plants into outer space to learn how the plants respond to microgravity environments. The plants will be placed into a special box, loaded onto a rocket and sent 250 miles into space to the International Space Station (ISS) where they will be studied.

It is thought that the stress-free atmosphere may provide insights about the benefits of hemp, reports Forbes. One of the primary elements to be studied is CBD.

Dr. Joe Chappell of the Space Tango Science Advisory Team said, “When we send plants to the International Space Station, we eliminate one core, constant force, to which plants are well-adapted — gravity. When plants are ‘stressed,’ they pull from a genetic reservoir to produce compounds that allow them to adapt and survive.”

The special boxes that the hemp plants will be placed in are about the size of a microwave. These “CubeLabs” are fully automated to run independently while in orbit. The labs are also interactively managed from earth with the capability of downloading images and data in real-time.

“Understanding how plants react in an environment where the traditional stress of gravity is removed can provide new insights into how adaptations come about and how researchers might take advantage of such changes for the discovery of new characteristics, traits, biomedical applications and efficacy,” said Chappell.

A specific launch date has not been established yet.

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