Marijuana In Space Station Can Provide Important Data For Space Biology

Ever since Canada fully legalized the use of both medical and recreational marijuana and the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill federally legalizing hemp, the future of weed has reached new highs.

First, marijuana’s growth projection has increased exponentially. According to Wall Street's cannabis analyst, Vivien Azer, the U.S. sales of marijuana will rise to as much as $80 billion by 2030. Canadian companies Canopy Growth and Tilray will both contribute to this growth in 2019.

Another projected high is out of this world, literally, as companies are now planning to grow marijuana in space.

According to Forbes, the bioengineering company, Space Tango, has started planning on growing hemp plants onboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Hemp is a close cousin of marijuana that’s known for its medical benefits without the psychoactive effects. Space Tango, on the other hand, specializes in research and manufacturing of microgravity environments.

Per Dr. Joe Chappell, a member of the Space Tango advisory team who has worked on various ISS projects, space is a stress-free environment where the plants can easily flourish.

“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,” Dr. Chappell said.

The company is likely to test cannabis compound, cannabidiol, known for therapeutic effects like managing chronic pain, insomnia, and even controlling seizures caused by certain types of epilepsy. The benefits of cannabidiol can help astronauts in space manage the stress of living so far from the planet.

Growing plants in space are not unheard of concept. A plant growth module called the Vegetable Production System was also launched in 2014 which produces edible greens that provide safe and nutritious food to the NASA crew. It is considered fundamental in space biology and advanced plant experiments.

“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,” Chappell said.

Space Tango aims to use CubeLabs to grow hemp which will be equipped with various tools such as cameras to send vital information back to Earth.