SpaceX to send tons of scientific data to the ISS aboard the next-gen Dragon Sunday

A new version of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is expected to make its first flight into orbit on Sunday when a Falcon 9 rocket lifts a Dragon 2 filled with supplies to the International Space Station.

New Dragon can carry 50% more science payloads compared to the previous version, according to SpaceX. The launch is the 21st for Elon Musk’s rocket company under its Commercial Replenishment Services (CRS) contract with NASA.

In addition to supplies for the astronauts and the station, CRS-21 will bring several experiments to the ISS, including the first research experience on the drug COVID-19 in the space. A number of biological investigations will take advantage of technologies such as tissue-on-a-chip and brain organoids, which can be used to simulate human tissues and record their response to microgravity.

Another experiment on board is Bioasteroid, which aims to help determine if organisms such as fungi could be used to help extract valuable substances such as rare earth metals from asteroids to extract them or even maintain bases on d ‘other worlds.

“We’re going to see if these microbes can get things we’d really like to use in industry from the surface and inside of asteroids,” says Charles Cockell, principal investigator for Bioasteroid, in the NASA video shown here. below.

A new airlock module from Nanoracks also flies on the Dragon, similar to a Japanese airlock already on the ISS, but significantly larger. The new infrastructure could allow cubesats or other payloads to be deployed into space from the space station.

The Falcon 9 booster lifting the Dragon 2 will make its fourth flight and is expected to land on a drone in the Atlantic several minutes after takeoff. The Dragon is expected to dock with the ISS approximately 24 hours after launch.

The launch was scheduled for Saturday, but has since been delayed by inclement weather to Sunday, December 6 at 8:17 a.m. PT (11:17 a.m.ET) from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Every time the mission kicks off, we’ll be sure to integrate the livestream for you to watch here.

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