SpaceX, Elon Musk’s space company, is scheduled to bring hemp to the International Space Station (ISS) in March 2020. The goal is to see what effect space, and the associated microgravity, have on the plants.
2019 was the year of CBD (cannabidiol), a non-psychoactive compound which is derived from hemp. Any mutations created by the plants trip to space will be studied to see if any of them have commercial applications.
SpaceX also brought 40 mice to the ISS, eight of which were genetically edited to have twice the muscle mass of normal mice. The goal of the study is to find out what happens to bone and muscle in space.
These two stories bring to mind a story world where everything can be brought to a habitat in orbit… for a price. Think Han Solo and Chewie, a rogue smuggler and his companion travel between Earth and space, experts at bringing cargo through which nobody else can pull off.
It also brings to mind a book by my friend Mike Giglio, Shatter the Nations, where he talks about the oil smuggling that occurred at the border between Turkey and Syria. If there was ever a situation where the habitats in orbit are at war with each other, smugglers from Earth could find themselves in a position to make a large chunk of money.Combining the lessons/stories from the border between Turkey and Syria, shown from the viewpoint of “Han and Chewie,” there’s material for a never-ending series of books.
