All About Space - UK (2020-02)

Animal astronauts

Amphibian

balancing

act

Twoverydifferentspace

adventurerswereready

tospringintoactionin

1970,allinthename

ofunderstandingthe

effectsofspacetravel

andweightlessnesson

humans.TheOrbiting

FrogOtolith– ‘otolith’

referstothefrogs’inner-

earbalancemechanism

• spacecraftcontained
  twobullfrogsthatwere
  inforawildride.After
  havingsurgerytoimplant
  electrodesintotheir
  thoraxesandvestibular
  systems– apartofthe
  nervoussystemwithin
  theinnerearthathelps
  tomaintainbalance– the
  frogs’nervesconnecting
  theirlimbmuscleswere
  cuttopreventthemfrom
  accidentallyremoving
  theelectrodes.Theywere
  thenplacedinwaterfor
  thedurationoftheflight
  tocushionthemfrom
  vibrationsandtokeep
  themcool.Interestingly,
  afterabumpyfirstfew
  days,bythelastdayof
  thesix-dayflightthe
  frogs’vestibularsystems
  hadreturnedtonormal,
  suggestingthatthey
  acclimatisedtotheir
  spaceenvironment.
  Unfortunatelyforthe
  frogs,theyneverreturned
  toEarth.Manyother
  frogshavebeenlaunched
  bothbeforeandafter
  theOrbitingFrogOtolith
  experimentinthename
  ofscience.

Both perished

No

v

em

be

r

(^91)
(^07)
(^6) /
ad
sy
A tragedy’s
only survivors
Survived
TheSpaceShuttleColumbiahadservedforroughly
22 years,completing 27 missionsbeforeits 2003
f light.Onthisfatefullastmission,launchand
orbitappearedtogowell.However,thespacecraft
anditsseven-astronautcrewweretragically
lostonre-entrytoEarth’satmosphere.Caused
bya holethathadbeenpuncturedinoneof
Columbia’swingsduringtakeoff 16 daysearlier,
thedisasterultimatelyendedtheSpaceShuttle
program.Theinitialseven-monthinvestigation
oftheColumbiadisasteryieldednearly85,000
piecesofthespacecraft,includingmanyofthe
60 scienceexperiments,someofwhichinvolved
animals.Ofthefish,insects,spiders,beesandsilk
wormsthathadbeenaboard,onlythenematode
wormssurvived.
Hundredsof
microscopicnematodes
werefoundinsidePetridishesheldinsixcanisters
withina four-kilogramlocker.Itwasthelocker’s
robustness,reinforcedspecificallytoprotectthe
materialsinside,thatsavedthenematodes.Yet
thewormsfoundwerenottheoriginalsurvivors.
Asnematodeshavea lifecycleofseventoten
days,bythetimetheywerediscoveredtheworms
werefourth-orfifth-generationdescendantsofthe
originalspacefarers.Fromtheamazingsurvival
ofthenematodes,astrobiologistslearnedthat
lifecanpotentiallytravelbetweenplanetsby
naturalmeans.
Ifyoufounda tardigradef loating
inspace,youwouldassumeitwas
alien.Lessthanone-millimetrelong,
tardigradesareshort,plumpandpuffy
creatures,withfourpairsoflegsthat
eachendinclawsorsuckingdiscs,
anda tubularmouthringedbyteeth-like
structurescalledstylets.Commonlyknown
as‘waterbears’or‘mosspiglets’,theyarefound
inalmosteveryenvironmentimaginableonEarth,
andareremarkablyhardy.Forthisreason,in 2007 three
groupsoftardigradesweresentintospaceontheEuropean
SpaceAgency’sFoton-M3mission.Duringtheirtripthefirstgroup
wereexposedtothevacuumofouterspace,thesecondgroupvacuum
plusanunhealthydoseofsolarradiationandthethirdvacuumplus
fullsolarradiationexposure.Staggeringly,whenreturnedtoEarth
andrehydrated,thefirstgroupshowednosignsofdamage.The
twogroupsexposedtosolarradiationfaredworse,buteveninthe
groupexposedtoa fulldoseofsolarradiation,threetardigradeswere
successfullyreanimated,makingthemthefirstanimalstosurvivein
outerspace.Itisforthisreasonsomepeoplebelievetardigradesare
aliveontheMoon– inApril2019,IsraelispacecraftBeresheetcrash-
landedontheMooncarryingthousandsofthetinycreatures.
Hardiest
animal on
Earth, and
in space
Survived
“Astrobiologists learned that
life can potentially travel
between planets”
56
(^14) September
20
07
/^1
2
da
y
s
16
Janu
ary
(^20)
(^03)
/ 1
6
d
a
y
s
Tardigrades
are
indisputably
the hardiest
creatures on
Earth and
in space
Source: Wikipedia commons© Nicole Ottawa & Oliver Meckes / Eye of Science
© NASA
© NASA