Experiments in Space
There are two reasons for having human astronauts on Mir:
- They can do experiments and control many things better than robots can,
and better than people can from a long way away on the Earth.
- Many of the experiments are about how the human body behaves in space, so
the astronauts can do these experiments on themselves.
The European astronaut Thomas Reiter did most of these experiments. He also looked after crucial control systems on the station, and performed a spacewalk to place an experiment package on the outside of the station. Meanwhile, on Earth, the Mission Control Centre in Russia, watched and helped with the on-board activities.
The experiments will teach us more about the human body, about solids and liquids, and about space and how stars work. They will also tell us about the Earth. And they will help us to develop new technology for the future.
We can learn a lot about human diseases by making experiments in space, where there is "microgravity". Hopefully we will also learn how people can be trained to stay in space for even longer.
The astronaut Thomas Reiter and his fellow cosmonauts conduct these medical experiments upon themselves! For example, they study:
- how the heart and lungs work
- how fluids move around inside the body.
- how food is used inside the body.
- how bones change when they lose calcium.
- how our nerves and brain send around messages about our surroundings.
- how our muscles work.
- how exposure to radiation affects our bodies.
There is a furnace on board Mir, which is used to study:
how metals behave as liquids and gases.
how alloys (mixtures of different metals) behave as liquids and solids.
how energy and temperature of liquids and solids change in unusual conditions.
how different kinds of glass behave.
how gases can be transported.
A special platform, the European Scientific Environment Facility (ESEF) was attached to the outside of one of the stationŐs modules before it was launched. Thomas Reiter went out into space to attach to it extra pieces of hardware for experiments outside the craft. For example, one experiment collects the small grains that are found floating in space. Some of these come from the Earth and some from the rest of the Solar System. These grains will be studied when they are brought back to Earth. Impacts of small meteoroids and space debris, and the damaging effects of oxygen atoms on materials in space, are also being studied.
Ten more of Thomas' experiments explored new technologies: for example, ways of measuring radiation, controlling robots, detecting gases, and even levitating using magnets. There will also be experiments in biological technology: studies of infection by germs, and of how animals move and take different postures in microgravity, for example.
The "crew support computer" and the "video integrated service controller" supported many of these experiments, collecting data through video and computer links.
Below are some of the experiments that astronauts have tried in space. At the bottom of the page are some of the results they found. There are some surprising results!
Experiments
1. Astronauts investigated whether frogs could jump in space. What happened?
2. What happened to a match set alight in space?
3. A spider called Arabella started to spin a web in space. What was it like?
4. Some small birds were hatched in space. What happened when they flew?
5. What happens to water drops in space?
6. Astronauts grew plants in space. What happened to the roots and shoots?
Results
1. The frogs were unable to jump and land properly, because they couldn't tell up from down. They somersaulted instead!
2. The heat didn't rise and the hot gas and smoke were not carried away. The flame was a perfect sphere. Because the wick was surrounded by waste gases, it went out almost immediately.
3. Arabella couldn't spin a web for some days. The threads wouldn't go right in weightlessness. She kept trying, learning from her mistakes. After a few days, she had taught herself what to do, and she made a good web.
4. The birds were unable to fly properly in weightless conditions. They could only loop the loop.
5. Water drops are perfectly round. They float, rather than falling.
6. Roots of plants grow down because of gravity. These roots grew in every direction. The shoots grew towards any source of light.
For a printable version of this page use Resource Sheet 2.
