NASA “We have been raising jellyfish in Space for 20 years” Scientists have carried out many interesting experiments throughout the history of space-aviation. While experiments on animals came to the fore at the beginning of these experiments, it was revealed that NASA has sent thousands of jellyfish to Space for 20 years. NASA raised 1991 jellyfish in Space in an experiment conducted in 60.
The Spacelab Life Sciences (SLS-1991) mission launched by the US Space and Aviation Administration (NASA) in 1 aimed to observe the effects of the non-gravity environment on living things. Within the scope of these experiments, jellyfish were among the creatures sent to Space.
According to the news of The Atlantic site, 2 baby jellyfish, which were placed in bottles and bags filled with artificial sea water, were fired into Space by the Columbia space shuttle. Astronauts also injected chemicals into artificial seawater to make jellyfish move and grow in zero gravity. Towards the end of the mission, the NASA experiment had made a breakthrough. The number of jellyfish orbiting the Earth has reached 478 thousand.
In the experiment in Space, scientists not only saw how jellyfish develop in a gravity-free environment, but also clearly observed a feature that these creatures have with humans: adapting to a zero-gravity environment.
HOW DID THEY SUCCESS?
One scientist explained to The Atlantic how jellyfish do this:
“As the jellyfish grows, it forms calcium sulfate crystals on the sides of its body. The crystals in a small cell bag are also covered with specialized hairs. The crystals, which spread out in an orderly manner, descend to the bottom of the pack when the jellyfish moves. Moving hairs send signals to the nerves, and jellyfish sense up and down. All they have is gravity.”
Humans maintain their balance thanks to the calcium crystals in their inner ears, similar to jellyfish. These crystals stimulate ultra-sensitive cell hairs to transmit to the brain where gravity is pulling us.
According to the results of the STS-1 (Space Transportation System) experiment published in Advances in Space Research, it was stated that while jellyfish in Space did not differ much morphologically from those on Earth, there were differences between their movements in the Earth and Space. The jellyfish also had problems with their movement when they returned to Earth.
Source : ntvmsnbc
📩 24/10/2013 14:04
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