NASA's SpaceX 30th resupply mission set to launch new research, tech demos to space station

NASA's SpaceX 30th commercial resupply services mission (CRS-30) will carry new research, technology demonstrations, food and supplies for the crew aboard the International Space Station on Thursday, March 21.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon spacecraft is targeted to lift off at 4:55 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The cargo ship will arrive at the station on Saturday, March 23, and will spend about a month attached to the station's Harmony module before it returns to Earth with research and cargo.

Among others, the spacecraft will deliver a set of new sensors for free-flying Astrobee robots to provide automatic 3D mapping capabilities.

"The technology could be used to autonomously operate spacecraft with minimal or no human occupancy where robots must sense the environment and precisely maneuver, including the lunar Gateway space station," says Principal Investigator Connie Miller of Boeing.

Also flying aboard the CRS-30 mission is a fluid physics study could benefit solar cell technology and a university project from CSA (Canadian Space Agency) that will monitor sea ice and ocean conditions. The low-cost technique called Global Navigation Satellite System reflectometry (GNSS-R) shows promise as a way to monitor ocean phenomena and improve climate models.

Further, the C4 Photosynthesis in Space (APEX-09) experiment will examine how microgravity affects the mechanisms by which two types of grasses, known as C3 and C4, capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Live coverage of the CRS-30 mission launch will air on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency's website, with prelaunch events starting Tuesday, March 19.

NASA's SpaceX 30th resupply mission is scheduled to bring science to the space station! Learn about technology to monitor sea ice for climate models, studies of photosynthesis off the planet, and nanoparticle experiments to improve quantum-dot solar cells. https://t.co/QMxlABZk9r pic.twitter.com/ZIgupuHSmP

— ISS Research (@ISS_Research) March 12, 2024