Cannabis is being launched into space to see if it mutates.

Up to coffee and hemp 480 cell cultures will be launched into space in special temperature-regulating incubators during the SpaceX CRS-20 mission. They will be held aboard the International Space Station for 30 days then sent back to Earth where scientists from Front Range Biosciences will examine them.



The study will hopefully help scientists better understand how space travel, and all the environmental stressors that come with it, affects plant life. This can then help them engineer plants that are more resilient to harsh conditions.



“This is one of the first times anyone is researching the effects of microgravity and spaceflight on hemp and coffee cell cultures," Jonathan Vaught, co-founder and CEO of Front Range Biosciences said in a statement. “There is science to support the theory that plants in space experience mutations. This is an opportunity to see whether those mutations hold up once brought back to earth and if there are new commercial applications."

Front Range Biosciences, an agricultural technology company, announced the interstellar plan in collaboration with SpaceCells USA Inc. and BioServe Space Technologies at the University of Colorado, Boulder.