Scientists can now grow grass in space

Thanks to the hard work of Space Tango engineers, scientists can now grow grass in space. The Lexington Kentucky start-up will help a scientist grow cannabis plants and its derivatives on board the International Space Station.

The company hopes to test the effects of the lack of gravity on weed growth and wish to see how many better strands they can produce in such an environment.

Space Tango was founded by Kris Kimel, then president of the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation and a former NASA engineer.

Space being extremely restricted in the International Space Station, it is essential to literally use every inch of the area. Scientists wishing to conduct experiments in space must make maximum use of available space.

Space Tango is designing a miniature "clean room" laboratory. The "lab" is about the size of a microwave oven. This tiny laboratory should be enough to conduct enough experiments and monitor the results.

Space Tango has CubeLab modules that are inserted into the larger TangoLab containers. Companies such as the Anheuser-Busch brewery can barely get to the space station. These companies can then monitor their crops to see how they behave in weightlessness.

Now, Space Tango is taking things in hand to see how weeds can grow in space. Space Tango has now collaborated with two growers and retailers of hemp and cannabis to analyze how microgravity can produce unique hemp strands.

Space Tango wants to create unique hemp strands for medical purposes. The two companies that Space Tango will work with are Anavii Market and Atalo Holdings.

Anavii Market is an online seller of therapeutic cannabis products extracted from hemp. Atalo Holdings is a supplier of hemp yarns. So it was a match in paradise.

Kris Kimel, co-founder and president of Space Tango, said: "For all entrepreneurial companies in this new space, everyone is trying to improve. [sic] on what is the real business. "

He added further, "We are trying to understand here what is the current activity … For us, the model considers the low Earth orbit in order to develop and design applications for life on Earth."

Read also: Opportunity: the missing Mars rover has been found

According to Kimel, the company has installed two laboratories in the space station. The company sends 6 payloads each year to academic and professional consumers. The success of Space Tango comes from commercializing experiences in space.

It offers a unique experience for large companies wishing to exploit the powers of agriculture in microgravity. It turned out to be a very profitable industry because the costs of bringing back space products are heavy.

For this reason, Space Tango will focus on producing weeds in the space and the manufactured weeds will be used for biomedical purposes.

Pharmaceuticals are light and do not require large quantities of raw materials for their manufacture. In this way, the company can increase profit margins without sacrificing quality.

Kimel added "That's why biomedicine is attractive. You are dealing with incredibly high value products and incredibly low weight. "

The weed culture in the space is only the beginning of something revolutionary. We can not wait for what the future holds for this company.