In the International Space Station (ISS), various countries are pooling their knowledge to conduct a wide variety of research for the future benefit of the human race.
Presently, each country is constructing various experiment systems. One of the core life science experiment systems being developed for the ISS is the Centrifuge.
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What are these worms? They are tiny nematodes called Caenorhabditis Elegans. An adult is about 1 millimetre long - about as long as a grain of salt is wide. C. Elegans has many advantages as a model system for studying the effects of radiation in space. One advantage is its small size. A C. Elegans experiment doesn't need much room. This is important because it's expensive to launch weight into orbit and spacecraft, even the ISS, are very cramped. In addition, C. Elegans has a generation time of just a few days; a two-week lifespan in which a single hermaphrodite produces about 300 offspring; a limited number of cells (less than 1,000); and it's easy to maintain in a laboratory. These advantages mean that experimental procedures can be short, flexible and cost effective. The worms can be kept in little bags so that the astronauts can just inject liquid food into the bags every few weeks.
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Protein Crystallization In Space |
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The microgravity environment of space is an ideal place to study the complicated protein crystallization process and to grow good-quality protein crystals. A series of crystal growth experiments of 10 different proteins was carried out in space on a Chinese re-entry satellite FSW-2 in August, 1992.
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