The goal is to evaluate the effects of low gravity on growing such cells. Favorable results would be good news for an eventual Mars mission, which has to address the problem of maintaining astronaut’s nutrition under the extreme space and resource constraints of such a voyage.
The ten-day SpaceX mission, Axiom Mission 1, launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 6th and includes former NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegra, real estate mogul Larry Connor, businessman Mark Pathy, and Israeli philanthropist and former Israel Defense Force fighter pilot Eytan Stibbe.
The experiments will be run from Earth, although Stibbe will handle initial setup of Aleph Farm’s microfluidic devices into the ISS lab.
Aleph Farm’s targets include cow-based products. In addition to meat, the company is also developing lab-grown collagen for health and beauty applications.