Mon 30 August 2021:
On Sunday, a SpaceX cargo of ants, avocados, and a human-sized robotic arm was launched into the International Space Station.
The shipment, which is expected to arrive on Monday, is the company’s 23rd for NASA in just over a decade.
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center launched a refurbished Falcon rocket into the early morning sky. The first-stage booster landed upright on SpaceX’s newest ocean platform, “A Shortfall of Gravitas,” after hoisting the Dragon spacecraft. Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, has named the booster-recovery vehicles after the late science fiction writer Iain Banks and his Culture trilogy.
The Dragon is carrying more than 4,800 pounds (2,170 kilograms) of supplies and experiments, as well as fresh food for the space station’s seven astronauts, including avocados, lemons, and even ice cream.
Scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison are flying up seeds from mouse-ear cress, a small flowering weed used in genetic studies, while Girl Scouts are sending up ants, brine shrimp, and plants as test subjects. Weightlessness will also be applied to concrete, solar cells, and other materials.
Meanwhile, an experimental robotic arm developed by a Japanese startup company will attempt to screw goods together in space and conduct other humdrum tasks traditionally performed by astronauts. The initial testing will take place within the space station.
According to Toyotaka Kozuki, chief technology officer of Gitai Inc., future iterations of the company’s robot will journey into space to practice satellite and other repair duties.
He stated that a squad of these arms may assist in the construction of lunar bases and the mining of the moon for valuable resources as early as 2025.
Because to delays caused by COVID-19, SpaceX had to cancel some tests.
It was the second attempt after the first was thwarted by bad weather on Saturday.
After the space shuttle program ended in 2011, NASA resorted to SpaceX and other US corporations to deliver cargo and crews to the space station.
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