Sara Humphrey — Feb 20th 2021
Plants need light to live and grow, and it takes a lot of energy to grow plants using man-made light fixtures. So why don’t we use sunlight instead? Why don’t we use sunlight to grow plants on the International Space Station (ISS)? Engineering challenges Windows take a lot of time, effort, and money to design… Read More
Kai Rasmussen — Feb 20th 2021
February 19th 2021 marked the 4 year anniversary of astrobotany.com. Hi all, I am incredibly humbled that astrobotany.com has been up and running for four years. I am in awe, and extremely proud of how much knowledge the site has accumulated in its short time on the internet. Four years ago, this website was little… Read More
Gil Cauthorn — Feb 18th 2021
Clovers in Space: ExoLab-8 Mission ExoLab-8 Mission The next Cygnus launch aboard the Antares rocket is scheduled for February 20, 2021 at 12:36 p.m. ET, from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) Pad 0A on Wallops Island, Virginia. This resupply mission, known as Cygnus NG-15, will deliver approximately 3,279 kg of cargo to the International Space… Read More
Sara Humphrey — Feb 8th 2021
Parabolic flights (often called “vomit comet” flights) provide an analog platform for microgravity research. Essentially, a reduced-gravity aircraft flies upward, then it curves like a parabola and flies downward so fast that the people and equipment inside experience microgravity for less than 30 seconds. This brief period of weightlessness allows researchers time to do experiments,… Read More