WHO HAS CONTROL OVER SPACE?

Since the invention of space travel, we’ve been launching weird stuff into space.

Humanity has been fascinated with space for centuries. We’ve sent an odd assortment of objects and creatures to the final frontier, in an effort to improve our understanding of the universe beyond Earth.

1. SLIME

Did you also know that astronauts were stripped of their skins at the International Space Station in 2020. Nickelodeon shipped two liters worth of their beloved goo to the International Space Station for astronauts to see how it behaves without gravity. The experiment doubled as a virtual flight and involved filling a slime balloon with slime, and then making slime bubbles.

The experiment’s results could have an impact upon how liquids can be handled in space. These could include plant watering on the space station and carbon dioxide processing.

2. TISSUE CIPS

Tissue Chips are tiny, highly-engineered bioengineered devices. They contain human cells within a 3D matrix. The structure and function of human organs like the heart or lungs can be simulated by tissue chips. In 2018 space was the first time tissue chips were launched. This allows scientists to study how drugs and diseases interact with the human body from space. It also helps to understand the long term effects of microgravity.

3. JELLYFISH

Scientists have been sending a variety of jellyfish into space ever since the 90s. This is to check the effects that weightlessness has on their development and maturation. In 1991, the first mission that sent jellyfish into orbit was successful and sent over 2,000 of them. 60,000 jellyfish were still living in space after the mission ended. The space jellies were having extreme vertigo, and it turned out they had trouble swimming in normal gravity.

4. SALMONELLA

Arizona State University researchers sent a sample to space in 2007 of salmonella. This is the most common cause of food poisoning. In space, the bacteria became more virulent than ever before. This is worrying news for future colonies in space.

5. TARDIGRADES, WATER BEARS

Tardigrades also known to be water bears are microscopic, almost indestructible animals that can be found in many different environments, both on land and sea. These tiny creatures can withstand high levels of radiation, extreme temperature, nearly a whole decade without water, and chemical exposures that are dangerous to other forms. Scientists decided that they would study what happens to them in space, since they can endure almost anything. The tardigrades were healthy when they returned to Earth and became the first living animal to survive in open space.

6. SPIDERS

A container with food, light and food was filled with golden-orb weaver spiders. They were then sent to space to study how they would behave in a gravity-free environment. Researchers captured the webs of spiders every five mins using overhead lights that were on for twelve hours. This simulates daylight. They discovered that gravity is the best orientation guide for spiders in web building. When gravity is absent, the spiders used direction of light as a back-up system.

7. MOUSE PERM

In 2013, a team comprising scientists and engineers launched frozen sperm samples from mice into space. These samples were stored for over nine years aboard the International Space Station. Space does not provide an atmosphere that can protect DNA from the sun’s radiation. If DNA is damaged, it can prevent offspring’s coming to terms and can cause birth defects or diseases. That didn’t happen. After being rehydrated the freeze-dried fertilm returned safely back to Earth.

8. MEDAKA

The transparent skin that the Japanese rice fish has is perfect for scientists to examine the internal effects of microgravity. Studies have shown that astronauts who are in orbit experience decreased bone density because of activation by osteoclasts. Scientists have been studying space with the medaka since 1994. They are now trying to figure out how this mechanism works so that they can develop a treatment for Osteoporosis.

9. BULLFROGS

Ah, yes. The great frog flights of 1970. NASA launched two bullfrogs on their own spacecraft (the Orbiting Frog Otolith 1, or OFO 1), to study the effects space travel has on motion sickness. Scientists chose to use bullfrogs as their inner ear is very close to that of humans. To study the effects on weightlessness, the scientists placed electrodes in the bullfrogs’ thoracic and vestibular cavities. The bullfrogs orbited Earth 6 days. The experiment was very successful. The electrodes were placed in the frogs’ chest cavities to record data on the effects of weightlessness.