Researchers plan to send a spider habitat into space to observe the insects' activities in low gravity to better understand how life on Earth adapts to the space environment.
The spider habitat is dubbed the Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus Science Insert-05 (CSI-05), and is the second spider research work on the International Space Station (ISS), British dailyIndependent reported.
"I think people can relate to everyday insects and they can understand why the experiment is of interest," said Stefanie Countryman, coordinator for CSI-05.
"Plus, the visual aspects of this experiment make it very appealing to the general public," she added.
The spider habitat will be launched into space aboard the space shuttle Endeavour and transferred from the spaceship to the ISS.
The new spider habitat plus the one already on the ISS will be placed into an apparatus which will maintain a consistent temperature, humidity and lighting cycle for the spiders and their sustenance supply of fruit flies.
At the same time, images of the spiders' progress will be sent by the ISS to the website Bioedonline.orgon a daily basis.
Researchers will see if and how the spiders will spin their webs differently in microgravity to study the role that gravity plays in changing the behavior of spiders and their fruit fly companions.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment