Ants to be sent to the International Space Station
Jan 9, 2014 12:18:27 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jan 9, 2014 12:18:27 GMT -5
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/10560106/Ants-to-be-sent-to-the-International-Space-Station.html
I, for one, would like to say what's on EVERYBODY'S mind...
Welcome our new insect overlords.
Around 800 ants are being launched into space to examine their foraging patterns.
Eight ant habitats, each carrying around 100 ants, will form part of the payload of unmanned Cygnus cargo spacecraft when it leaves NASA's flight facility in Wallops, Virginia today.
The ants are one of a number of payloads on the mission, which is also being used to resupply the International Space Station.
It is one of eight missions being carried out by Orbital, a private company which has a $1.9 billion contract (£1.2 billion) with NASA.
BioServe Space Technologies, which is carrying out the Ants in Space experiment, is one of a number of companies and organisations which will be using some of the spare capacity on the Cygnus.
The aim is to see how ants' behaviour changes in microgravity.
"When ant densities are high, each ant thoroughly searches one small area in a circular, 'random' walk," said Stefanie Countryman, the programme director.
"When ant densities are low, each ant searches by walking in a relatively straight line, allowing it to cover more ground."
In a second experiment the effectiveness of antibiotic drugs will be tested on E-coli bacteria in space.
It is hoped that identifying the genes which resist antibiotics could lead to the lead to the development of more effective drugs.
The Cygnus will also carry a flock of 28 mini-satellites, known as Doves.
No bigger than a bread tin, the Doves will be capable of producing more images of earth from space at a faster rate than existing satellites.
They have been developed in San Francisco by Planet Labs, a company whose founders include Will Marshall, a Briton and Oxford graduate.
The Doves have a variety of uses including enabling major commercial organisations to get real-time images of their property across the globe.
They can also help track climate change, crop disease, deforestation and wildfires as well as aiding humanitarian relief by providing swift images of disaster zones to help in targeting emergency aid.
The Cygnus will finally be launched – at the third attempt – after a series of delays mainly caused by solar flares, which, it was feared, could interfere with the electronics and communications equipment on the Antares rocket which is being used to carry the Cygnus.
Eight ant habitats, each carrying around 100 ants, will form part of the payload of unmanned Cygnus cargo spacecraft when it leaves NASA's flight facility in Wallops, Virginia today.
The ants are one of a number of payloads on the mission, which is also being used to resupply the International Space Station.
It is one of eight missions being carried out by Orbital, a private company which has a $1.9 billion contract (£1.2 billion) with NASA.
BioServe Space Technologies, which is carrying out the Ants in Space experiment, is one of a number of companies and organisations which will be using some of the spare capacity on the Cygnus.
The aim is to see how ants' behaviour changes in microgravity.
"When ant densities are high, each ant thoroughly searches one small area in a circular, 'random' walk," said Stefanie Countryman, the programme director.
"When ant densities are low, each ant searches by walking in a relatively straight line, allowing it to cover more ground."
In a second experiment the effectiveness of antibiotic drugs will be tested on E-coli bacteria in space.
It is hoped that identifying the genes which resist antibiotics could lead to the lead to the development of more effective drugs.
The Cygnus will also carry a flock of 28 mini-satellites, known as Doves.
No bigger than a bread tin, the Doves will be capable of producing more images of earth from space at a faster rate than existing satellites.
They have been developed in San Francisco by Planet Labs, a company whose founders include Will Marshall, a Briton and Oxford graduate.
The Doves have a variety of uses including enabling major commercial organisations to get real-time images of their property across the globe.
They can also help track climate change, crop disease, deforestation and wildfires as well as aiding humanitarian relief by providing swift images of disaster zones to help in targeting emergency aid.
The Cygnus will finally be launched – at the third attempt – after a series of delays mainly caused by solar flares, which, it was feared, could interfere with the electronics and communications equipment on the Antares rocket which is being used to carry the Cygnus.
I, for one, would like to say what's on EVERYBODY'S mind...
Welcome our new insect overlords.
