Weed plantation in International Space Station

Aerospace start-up SpaceX led by Elon musk will soon deliver weed and coffee plant cultures to International Space Station. SpaceX’s next mission is scheduled in March 2020. The weed and coffee plant culture are sent as a part of experiment to test if they grow in a zero-gravity environment.

Reports state that agricultural biotech company Front Range Biosciences has collaborated with Space cell and University of Colorado to launch marijuana and coffee plantation in space. The idea behind this is to check if the plants could mutate in zero gravity or if they can be genetically modified.

The coffee and marijuana plantation from space would be brought back to Earth in a month’s time. Later, a study would be conducted to understand if there was any change occurred in the growth of the plant due to micro gravity or radiation in space.  CEO of Front Range Biosciences stated that there are support theories that proves the science that plants in space experience mutation but this step is to see what happens to the plants once brought back to Earth.