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As I noted in July, the support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.

 

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Redwire to launch first commercial and private greenhouse in space

Capitalism in space: The in-space 3D printing company Redwire announced yesterday that it will launch to ISS the first privately-built greenhouse, scheduled for a ’23 liftoff.

Redwire is developing this greenhouse for agricultural company Dewey Scientific.

During the inaugural flight, Dewey Scientific will grow industrial hemp in the Greenhouse for a gene expression study. The company collaborated with Redwire, contributing technical details about the 60-day experiment and describing its potential to demonstrate the capabilities of the facility, while advancing biomedical and biofuels research.

The long term goal is to prove that this technology can produce products of value on future space stations, products that can then be sold on Earth. That both companies appear willing to invest some of their own research and development capital in this project suggests they both believe there will be a strong viable market for these products.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 

The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

9 comments

  • Lee S

    I know hemp is a remarkable, and very useful plant, pretty much the entire plant is good for some use, and no doubt the scientific reasons behind its use are valid… But I can’t help but getting a giggle from the idea of “spaced out Spacemen”
    ( Although I’m not sure there is a smoking area on the ISS)

    :-)

  • john hare

    Aah, but can they make brownies??

  • pzatchok

    Seriously?
    Hemp?

    Just to prove a point I guess.

    All plants are 100% usable and recyclable. Hemp though is not the most easily biodegradable. And who needs textiles in space?
    Any plant part grown in space and not eaten should be turned back into dirt otherwise you have to store it and throw it away. Then you have to send water and nutrient mass back up equal to or better than the mass you send down as waste.

    Until we have a station with at least a partial gravity growing anything in space is just an experiment in techniques that will more than likely not be used for permanent habitation.

  • Ray Van Dune

    I would have guessed that large-scale crystal growth would be among the earliest microgravity industrial applications, before fiber growth. But perhaps the problem of returning the “produce” without destroying it is more tractable with fibers than with crystals?

  • GaryMike

    My first thought of ‘greenhouses in space’ was “Freedom”.

  • Chris

    I wonder if Dewey refers to0 Silent Running’s Dewey?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsNBcmD3gnA

  • Chris asked “I wonder if Dewey refers to0 Silent Running’s Dewey?”

    10 points.

  • David M. Cook

    Ah yes, in a ship named Valley Forge!

  • Star Bird

    Teach the little Robots to play Poker and they start cheating

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