SpaceX is reportedly sending organs on a chip to the International Space Station

SpaceX is reportedly set to send microchips embedded with living human cells or so-called organs on a chip to help understand how space travel affects humans. According to Wired, the organs on a chip replicate human physiological function at the cellular level and have been designed to study those processes easier than in actual humans. The set of tissue chips modelling kidneys, bone and cartilage, blood-brain barrier, and lungs is scheduled to arrive at the International Space Station (ISS) in the next few days. The experiment will help researchers discover novel medical treatments for a number of disorders on Earth. [caption id=“attachment_6139831” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”]  The SpaceX headquarters is shown in Hawthorne, California, U.S. September 19, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake[/caption] This week, **SpaceX also confirmed the Dragon capsule's explosion for the first time** . The capsule was the very same one sent to the International Space Station in March on the SpaceX Dragon capsule’s ‘Demo-1’ mission. Reportedly, both NASA and SpaceX are working jointly to investigate what the malfunction was. NASA has its hopes and money riding on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule to ferry astronauts to and from the ISS, after its contract with the Russian space agency expired in 2014. SpaceX won the $2.6-billion contract from NASA to design & build Crew Dragon. The capsule was also pegged to fulfill future contracts to fly three to four astronauts to the space station at a time. With inputs from ANI.