The Dragon cargo ship is shown 10 meters from the ISS. December 17th he delivered research experiments
On December 17, the last mission for the supply of the crew of the ISS delivered hundreds of seeds to a research laboratory to check how plants grow under stressful conditions of weightlessness.
This is the fourth experiment from botany professor Simon Gilroy. His laboratory will grow the same seedlings on Earth during a month-long experiment, in order to compare their growth with and without gravity. Scientists note reactions to low oxygen environments.
New equipment for the first time will allow Gilroy to grow plants in the ISS, providing realistic conditions. Previous experiments took place in the dark. To document their growth, station microscopes will be involved.
The seeds were delivered with a SpaceX Dragon capsule on a Falcon 9 rocket. After completing the experiment, astronauts use a fixative mixture to freeze plant growth and transfer them to Earth.
Gilroy notes the amazing effect of gravity. With low gravity it can be noted that water becomes sticky. Therefore, it floats past you, can stick to your mouth and you will literally choke. Now he grows a mutant Rezuhovidka, which is stress resistant in terrestrial conditions.
The plates contain the seeds of the Mustard plant Rezuhovidki, which will be grown on the ISS to check the response to zero gravity
Now seedlings will be grown in the light. The team will have access to Veggi, which was used in 2015 to get salad on the ISS. After returning samples to Earth, Gilroy will be able to compare the pattern of expression of space plant genes with their earthly counterparts. They will also derive a fluorescent marker for stress.
The crew’s experiments and deliveries began on December 15 after a launch delay of 1 second. To complete the delivery, Gilroy went to the Kennedy Space Center (Florida) and took out seeds grown in special chambers. The delay has a negative effect, because a 2-day downtime will restart the experiment.
Such studies began to conduct since 1967. Gilroy believes that plants grow well in space conditions, going through the entire life cycle. It is only necessary to derive the highest quality methods that promote proper cultivation on other planets.
