Cape Canaveral, Fla. – Next, launch SpaceX again International Space Station, Scheduled for Sunday (December 6), a host of astronauts from Science Gear will live and work at the orbiting laboratory.
The robotic flight, called CRS-21, marks the 21st mission. SpaceX Replace services agreement with NASA under its commercial cargo. EST (1617 GMT) is scheduled to launch at 11:17 a.m. Sunday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and you can watch the action live. Here at space.com, Courtesy of NASA. You can also see directly NASA TV Or SpaceX.
SpaceX initially aimed to launch a CRS-21 cargo mission for NASA on Saturday (December 5), but was delayed due to bad weather. “Due to bad weather in the recovery area for today’s efforts, the target for the launch of CRS-21 is now Sunday, December 6 at 11:17 a.m.,” SpaceX wrote in an update early Saturday morning. The SpaceX mission plans to recover the Falcon 9 booster for reuse.
The upgraded Dragon Cargo Capsule will come on top of the Pte SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket 6,400 pounds are packed. (2,903 kg) Supply and Science Investigation. The research gear will support a variety of experiments in the fields of life sciences, regenerative medicine and many more.
Related: How SpaceX’s Dragon Space Capsule works (infographic)
Saturday’s flight will carry cargo for the first time in SpaceX’s upgraded Dragon spacecraft. (Yet, the advanced Dragon variant carries astronauts entirely.) The vehicle is a modified version. Crew Dragon spacecraft It lacks the systems needed for human missions, such as seats, cockpit control and life-support systems, as well as superdreco thrusters that provide special emergency escape systems that are only used if there is a problem during launch.
This new dragon allows more science to move towards the sky. Costello explained that the dragon’s interior can now support more powered payloads, which is a big advantage for life sciences as it allows for more cold storage and other types of investigations. It also allows the crew to store some operated payloads on the dragon when in craft orbit.
Tissue chips
Many payloads on the Dragon feature a unique piece of hardware called a tissue chip. Human cells and tissues grow on chip scaffolding, creating 3D structures in microgravity that researchers can observe to learn more about how basic processes in space work, including aging and bone and muscle damage.
How it will be studied in a similar investigation conducted by the University of Florida Atrophy of muscles in space. Sixteen skeletal muscle samples will be sent to the space station, where bundles of muscle tissue will be observed in microgravity. Half of the muscle samples were donated by younger, active individuals while the other half is from older, more sedentary volunteers.
Half of the samples from each group would be subjected to electric stimulation to see how the muscles contract in the absence of gravity. Researchers will use this experiment as a starting point for future research that will ultimately examine therapies to see if muscle degeneration can be prevented.
Your brain on microgravity
Will see another payload Brain organoids Created using stem cell technology. The research seeks to understand how it affects the survival and function of brain cells, which could lead to the treatment of autism and Alzheimer’s disease, the researchers said.
“Space travel mimics the effects of aging we’ve seen on Earth, only in the short term, making it easier to investigate the processes that are taking place,” Bill Bill Clamb, chief scientist at Kentucky-based company Space Tango, told Space. Bill McClemb, chief scientist at Space Tango, told Space. Community. “It’s hard to study The human brain In space, that is why such experiments are so beneficial. “
The probe will take stem cells and convert them into brain cells that will form three-dimensional structures called brain organoids. Stored in a special container called a well, these small organs can mimic both cellular variety and the functioning of the developing human brain.
This type of research can help prepare NASA and its partners for crew missions such as remote locations. Mars, Which will bring astronauts up against the rigors of space for a long time, and also help fight degenerative brain disease here on Earth, the researchers said.
Heart cells
A team of researchers from Stanford University is looking at how engineered heart tissue behaves in microgravity. This Cardinal Heart Examination Will send tissue samples containing cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells and cardiac fibroblasts to study how changes in gravity affect the heart at the cellular level.
Researchers know that microgravity changes the workload and shape of the human heart, but it is still unknown whether these changes can be permanent if a person lives longer in space.
The tissue bundles of the project will be attached to the tissue chips. The results of the experiment will help identify new treatments and could support the development of screening measures to predict blood vessel risk before spaceflight, team members said. Follow-up investigations will include treatments that can treat heart disease.
Immune response in space
This Himoku The probe will see how white blood cells react in space. Here on earth, doctors use the total number of white blood cells, as well as a variety of observations, to diagnose the disease. HimoQ will launch a new type of technology that will allow users to count white blood cells in orbit.
The goal is to test how well the device works in microgravity. If effective, it could be a valuable tool in an astronaut’s medical kit, the researchers said.
Called the second payload Micro-14 How the yeast looks, in particular Candida albicans, Responds to the atmosphere of space. C. albicans An opportunistic pathogen is an autoimmune disease, capable of causing serious and fatal disease in immunocompromised hosts. Micro-14 will evaluate how yeast reacts to fermented microorganisms, in search of changes in cellular and molecular levels.
Astronauts can become immune concepts during astronauts, so researchers are particularly interested in how to predict health risks from this organism. Previous research has shown that many microbes show an increase in virulence in microgravity environments, but more research on this pathogen is needed.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California is leading a project to take swab samples at various locations within the station and to view them. The relationship between bacteria and their metabolism (Chemicals produced by the growth of bacteria). This project will help researchers better understand the distribution of microbes and metabolites in a closed environment and how this distribution affects human health. This research can help administrators of hospitals and nursing homes, where residents frequently offer immunocommunications.
Related: SpaceX rocket launches record 7th time, nails land on sea
The falcon flies again
Sunday’s launch marks the 101st flight overall for SpaceX’s Workhorse two-stage Falcon 9 rocket. The lift features the P te Falcon 9 first-stage, designated B1058, which already has three flights under its belt. This frequent flyer had previously launched SpaceX Demo-2 Mission, Which sent two NASA astronauts to the space station last summer, as well as a Communication satellite For the South Korean military and a group of the company itself Starlink satellites.
Flight boosters have become commonplace for SpaceX, as the company continues to prove the reliability of the Falcon 9. In fact, CRS-21 marks the 24th flight of 2020 for SpaceX, most of them flying missions older than the brand new.
To date, SpaceX has successfully landed its first stage booster 67 times. Now that the company has two fully operational drone ship landing platforms – “CF course I still love” and “Just Read Instructions” – in Florida, it is able to launch (and land) more rockets. “Cf course I still love you” is already in the recovery zone waiting for his turn to catch B1058 when he returns to Earth soon after the lift off.
SpaceX was worried about the weather going on over the weekend. With the 45th Weather Squadron, with a 50% probability forecast on the 50th, ifif weather forecast for early Saturday efforts Favorable conditions For liftoff. The primary concerns were thick clouds and cumulus clouds. On Sunday the backup effort looks better, the forecast on that day will be 70% favorable.
If all goes according to plan, the dragon will arrive at the station and dock at the space-facing port of the Harmony module 24 hours after the blast.
Editor’s note: The story was updated at 8:22 a.m. to include the launch delay of SpaceX due to bad weather until Sunday, December 6th.
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