October 4, 2013
Categories: Satellites, Science

RIA Novosti – A top Russian scientist said Friday that an experiment that saw dozens of animals blasted into orbit on a satellite has offered up new clues about why astronauts’ eyesight deteriorates in space.

Vladimir Sychev, deputy director of Russia’s Institute of Medical and Biological Studies, said the experiment revealed that capacity of the cerebral arteries plummets in space, which accounts for the effect on vision.

“We used to think that in zero-gravity, fluid traveled upward and that the quality of [blood] improved, but it turns out that it is the other way around,” Sychev said. “The arteries of the brain come under duress and their capacity is reduced by 40 percent.”

The institute also gleaned useful information about the impact of space travel on the spinal cord, inner ear and processes at the genetic level, Sychev said.

Russia launched the Bion-1M satellite, its first biological research satellite since 2007, on a 30-day mission in April to conduct research on changes to the body while in orbit. The aim of the study was to help pave the way for interplanetary flights, including missions to Mars.

Sychev said the mission was a success although few of the animals sent up returned alive.

Passengers on the Bion-M1 included 45 mice, eight Mongolian gerbils, 15 geckos, slugs, snails and containers of microorganisms and plants. The flight proved fatal for all the gerbils and 29 of the mice. The geckos, slugs and snails survived.

Sychev said 15 of the mice died within a week of the launch.

“The cause was quite prosaic. A safety barrier malfunctioned,” he said.

Image credit – Institute for Biomedical Problems

More from this category:
March 24, 2021

On Tuesday, March 23, 2021, at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, joint teams of Roscosmos organizations began working on the second launch day schedule. The day before,…

full story
November 8, 2019

Today, on November 8, 2019, is a 15 years anniversary since the start of operation of the “Soyuz-2” launch vehicle of stage 1a. During this…

full story
October 25, 2019

For the first time in 12 years cosmonauts and astronauts trained on actions after landing on a water surface on the Black Sea at the…

full story
March 12, 2014

Preparation works for the manned launch are under way at Baikonur spaceport. Yuzhny space centre operational crews started preparing equipment and facilities of the launching…

full story
February 24, 2021

As part of the four GRUS spacecraft (GRUS-1 B, C, D, E) pre-launch processing, the Axelspace’s (Japan) team completed software tests, charged onboard batteries, checked…

full story
May 22, 2014

On May 21 GCTC testing and Training complex of Baikonur spaceport opened its doors for Mass media representatives. Less than a week before the launch…

full story
August 18, 2014

On August 18, 2014 according to the ISS flight schedule ISS-40/41 mission crew members Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev will perform the spacewalk. Pirs docking…

full story
June 3, 2014

Russian cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Alexander Skvortsov will perform the spacewalk on June 19. One of the tasks will be to look for bacteria on…

full story