Recent News Technology: Mongolian gerbil did not survive the flight into space "BION"

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Mongolian gerbil did not survive the flight into space "BION" - NEWSru.com

All eight Mongolian gerbils that were on board biosatellites “Bion-M”, who returned to Earth in the morning, died due to equipment failure during the space flight. Also, do not survive part of the “line of mice,” reported RIA “Novosti” the head of the experiment Evgeny Sychev.

Russian satellite “Bion-1″, the first since 2007, the Russian device for biological research in space, was launched a month ago from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. On board about a hundred different living organisms – is Mongolian gerbils, mice, geckos, fish, freshwater crustaceans, algae, bacteria, plant seeds.

“Mice are not all we got, less than half of the mice, unfortunately, survived, but enough to do the necessary research. We also assumed that option because the animals in space flight are killed. With gerbils – there is a hardware failure has occurred, and they killing all eight. Geckos are all alive, “- said Sychev.

“Linear mouse” – genetically pure, its genome is carefully controlled so that scientists can detect any genetic changes. On the “BION” went into space 45 such mice.

Flight biomedical satellite “Bion-M” was the twelfth in the history. The first launch took place in 1973, since the experiment was repeated about once every two years. During the current flight for the first time, scientists were able to study the physiological, not only during orbital flight, but also on the most critical and complex stages – during start and landing.