Remote automated multi-generational growth and observation of an animal in low Earth orbit
The ultimate survival of humanity is dependent upon colonization of other planetary bodies. Key challenges to such habitation are (patho)physiologic changes induced by known, and unknown, factors associated with long-duration and distance space exploration. However, we currently lack biological mode...
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| Format: | Article |
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Royal Society, The
2012
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/3077/ |
| _version_ | 1848790948202414080 |
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| author | Oczypok, Elizabeth A. Etheridge, Timothy Freeman, Jacob Stodieck, Louis Johnsen, Robert Baillie, David Szewczyk, Nathaniel J. |
| author_facet | Oczypok, Elizabeth A. Etheridge, Timothy Freeman, Jacob Stodieck, Louis Johnsen, Robert Baillie, David Szewczyk, Nathaniel J. |
| author_sort | Oczypok, Elizabeth A. |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The ultimate survival of humanity is dependent upon colonization of other planetary bodies. Key challenges to such habitation are (patho)physiologic changes induced by known, and unknown, factors associated with long-duration and distance space exploration. However, we currently lack biological models for detecting and studying these changes. Here, we use a remote automated culture system to successfully grow an animal in low Earth orbit for six months. Our observations, over 12 generations, demonstrate that the multi-cellular soil worm Caenorhabditis elegans develops from egg to adulthood and produces progeny with identical timings in space as on the Earth. Additionally, these animals display normal rates of movement when fully fed, comparable declines in movement when starved, and appropriate growth arrest upon starvation and recovery upon re-feeding. These observations establish C. elegans as a biological model that can be used to detect changes in animal growth, development, reproduction and behaviour in response to environmental conditions during long-duration spaceflight. This experimental system is ready to be incorporated on future, unmanned interplanetary missions and could be used to study cost-effectively the effects of such missions on these biological processes and the efficacy of new life support systems and radiation shielding technologies. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T18:20:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-3077 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T18:20:43Z |
| publishDate | 2012 |
| publisher | Royal Society, The |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-30772020-05-04T16:32:49Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/3077/ Remote automated multi-generational growth and observation of an animal in low Earth orbit Oczypok, Elizabeth A. Etheridge, Timothy Freeman, Jacob Stodieck, Louis Johnsen, Robert Baillie, David Szewczyk, Nathaniel J. The ultimate survival of humanity is dependent upon colonization of other planetary bodies. Key challenges to such habitation are (patho)physiologic changes induced by known, and unknown, factors associated with long-duration and distance space exploration. However, we currently lack biological models for detecting and studying these changes. Here, we use a remote automated culture system to successfully grow an animal in low Earth orbit for six months. Our observations, over 12 generations, demonstrate that the multi-cellular soil worm Caenorhabditis elegans develops from egg to adulthood and produces progeny with identical timings in space as on the Earth. Additionally, these animals display normal rates of movement when fully fed, comparable declines in movement when starved, and appropriate growth arrest upon starvation and recovery upon re-feeding. These observations establish C. elegans as a biological model that can be used to detect changes in animal growth, development, reproduction and behaviour in response to environmental conditions during long-duration spaceflight. This experimental system is ready to be incorporated on future, unmanned interplanetary missions and could be used to study cost-effectively the effects of such missions on these biological processes and the efficacy of new life support systems and radiation shielding technologies. Royal Society, The 2012-03-07 Article PeerReviewed Oczypok, Elizabeth A., Etheridge, Timothy, Freeman, Jacob, Stodieck, Louis, Johnsen, Robert, Baillie, David and Szewczyk, Nathaniel J. (2012) Remote automated multi-generational growth and observation of an animal in low Earth orbit. Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 9 (68). pp. 596-599. ISSN 1742-5689 Caenorhabditis elegans Spaceflight Astrobiology Interplanetary transfer http://rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/9/68/596.full doi:10.1098/rsif.2011.0716 doi:10.1098/rsif.2011.0716 |
| spellingShingle | Caenorhabditis elegans Spaceflight Astrobiology Interplanetary transfer Oczypok, Elizabeth A. Etheridge, Timothy Freeman, Jacob Stodieck, Louis Johnsen, Robert Baillie, David Szewczyk, Nathaniel J. Remote automated multi-generational growth and observation of an animal in low Earth orbit |
| title | Remote automated multi-generational growth and observation of an animal in low Earth orbit |
| title_full | Remote automated multi-generational growth and observation of an animal in low Earth orbit |
| title_fullStr | Remote automated multi-generational growth and observation of an animal in low Earth orbit |
| title_full_unstemmed | Remote automated multi-generational growth and observation of an animal in low Earth orbit |
| title_short | Remote automated multi-generational growth and observation of an animal in low Earth orbit |
| title_sort | remote automated multi-generational growth and observation of an animal in low earth orbit |
| topic | Caenorhabditis elegans Spaceflight Astrobiology Interplanetary transfer |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/3077/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/3077/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/3077/ |