SpaceX sends ants, avocados and robotic arm to space station
SpaceX sends ants, avocados and robotic arm to space station
A SpaceX shipment of ants, avocados and a human-sized robotic arm is rocketing towards the International Space Station.
The delivery, due to arrive on Monday, is the company’s 23rd for Nasa in just under a decade.
A recycled Falcon rocket blasted into the pre-dawn sky from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
After hoisting the Dragon capsule, the first-stage booster landed upright on SpaceX’s newest ocean platform, named A Shortfall of Gravitas.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk continued his tradition of naming the booster-recovery vessels in tribute to the late science fiction writer Iain Banks and his Culture series.
The Dragon is carrying more than 4,800lb (2,170kg) of supplies and experiments, and fresh food including avocados, lemons and even ice cream for the space station’s seven astronauts.
© Provided by PA Media Tthe launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on a resupply mission for Nasa to the International Space Station from Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Centre, seen from Merritt Island, Florida (Malcolm Denemark/Florida Today via AP)
The Girl Scouts are sending up ants, brine shrimp and plants as test subjects, while University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists are flying up seeds from mouse-ear cress, a small flowering weed used in genetic research.
Samples of concrete, solar cells and other materials will also be subjected to weightlessness.
A Japanese start-up company’s experimental robotic arm, meanwhile, will attempt to screw items together in its orbital debut and perform other mundane chores normally done by astronauts.
The first tests will be done inside the space station.
Future models of Gitai’s robot will venture out into the vacuum of space to practise satellite and other repair jobs, said chief technology officer Toyotaka Kozuki.
As early as 2025, a squad of these arms could help build lunar bases and mine the moon for precious resources, he added.
SpaceX had to leave some experiments behind because of delays resulting from Covid-19.
It was the second launch attempt; Saturday’s try was foiled by stormy weather.
Nasa turned to SpaceX and other US companies to deliver cargo and crews to the space station, once the space shuttle programme ended in 2011.
Reference: By Marcia Dunn, Associated Press
Articles - Latest
- WEBB TELESCOPE DETECTS LIGHT FROM AN EARTH-LIKE PLANET
- FORMER LABOUR MINISTER AND CROSSBENCH PEER FRANK FIELD DIES AGED 81
- LOURDES PORTILLO DEAD AT 80:OSCAR-NOMINATED FILM DIRECTOR HAS PASSED AWAY
- VAMPIRE' NEUTRON STAR BLASTS ARE RELATED TO JETS TRAVELING AT NEAR-LIGHT SPEEDS
- THE MOON IS 40 MILLION YEARS OLDER — EXPLAINED
- BARBARA O.JONES DEAD AT 82: ACTRESS WHO STARRED ALONGSIDE MUHAMMAD ALI IN TV SERIES, HAS PASSED AWAY
- SIR CHIPS KESWICK, SCION OF THE JARDINE MATHESON DYNASTY WHO CHAIRED HAMBROS AND ARSENAL – OBITUARY
- NORMAN JEWISON OBITUARY
- TED TOLEMAN OBITUARY
- NASA FINDS MUTANT BACTERIA ON ISS THAT DOESN'T EXIST ON EARTH
- KENYA’S MILITARY CHIEF DIES IN HELICOPTER CRASH
- TERRY ANDERSON, US JOURNALIST HELD HOSTAGE NEARLY 7 YEARS IN LEBANON, DEAD AT 76
- SCIENTISTS DISCOVER 'ORIGIN STORY' OF GREAT SPHINX OF GIZA
- SIR ANDREW DAVIS OBITUARY
- CHINESE WOMAN POSING FOR PHOTO DIES AFTER FALL FROM EDGE OF CRATER ON INDONESIAN VOLCANO
- DROWNING OF WEALTHY HEIRESS WAS ‘ACQUISITIVE KILLING’, COURT HEARS
- Singer Mandisa dead at 47
- GOLF CHANNEL ‘BIG BREAK’ CO-HOST STEPHANIE SPARKS DIES AT AGE 50
- EVERYTHING WE KNOW ABOUT THE POTENTIAL DISCOVERY AMELIA EARHART’S LONG-LOST PLANE
- Eleanor Coppola, ‘Hearts of Darkness’ director, dies at 87
- CARL ERSKINE, DODGERS LEGEND AND HUMAN RIGHTS ICON, DIES: 'THE BEST GUY I'VE EVER KNOWN'
- RESTLESS NATIVES AND STILL GAME ACTOR DIES AGED 64
- WATCH MOMENT EARTHQUAKE ROCKS UN SECURITY COUNCIL MEETING IN NEW YORK
Articles - Most Read
- Main
- Contact Us
- The science behind Ouija boards
- Cosmic Consciousness - What is Cosmic Consciousness-2
- Cosmic Consciousness-Introduction
- Cosmic Consciousness - Introduction-2
- MASSIVE 6.1 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE HITS NEW ZEALAND AS NATION STILL REELING FROM CYCLONE
- ARCHAEOLOGISTS UNRAVEL THE TRUTH OF APHRODITE, GODDESS OF LOVE, ON VALENTINE'S DAY
- The Human Condition-Thomas Keating
- Cosmic Consciousness First Words - 1V - 2
- Cosmic Consciousness First Words - V -
- Cosmic Consciousness V - 2
- Cosmic consciousness - First Words - IV
- Cosmic Consciousness - What is Cosmic Consciousness?
- Evolution and Devolution-Chapter 2
- The Human Condition - Thomas keating-3
- The Human Condition-2-Thomas Keating
- Drinking From The Mountain Stream - Milarepa
- Cosmic Consciousness-On the Plane of Self Consciousness
- The Human Condition - 4
- Cosmic Consciousness - 3 - On the Plane of Self Consciousness
- Evolution and Devolution-Chapter 1
- The Human Condition - 6
- Shakyamuni Buddha or India the 1st “Black Revolutionary Hero.”
- On the Plane of Self Consciousness - 2
- Milarepa's World
- The Human Condition - 5
- Milarepa's World-2
- The Buddhist System of Liberation
- On the Plane of Self Consciousness IV
- Contemplation and the Divine Therapy - 2
- JERRY RAWLINGS, GHANAIAN STRONG MAN WHO CAME TO POWER IN A COUP BUT INTRODUCED DEMOCRACY – OBITUARY
- The Buddhist System of Liberation - 2
- On the Plane of Self Consciousness IV - 2