In this image: A view of seedling growth in a petri dish during space shuttle Discovery's STS-95 mission in 1998, which used sim
In this image: A view of seedling growth in a petri dish during space shuttle Discovery's STS-95 mission in 1998, which used similar hardware to the upcoming Biological Research in Canisters -19 investigation aboard the International Space Station. Excerpt from article: Imagine a dragon flying through the heavens on mighty, outstretched wings. The majestic beast knows the currents of winds and how to harness their power as it soars above the clouds. SpaceX’s real Dragon – the company’s spacecraft that transports supplies and science to the International Space Station (ISS) – will deliver, and later return, new technology, biology and biotechnology and Earth and space science research to the orbiting outpost. One biological research investigation aboard Dragon includes a new plant study. The Biological Research in Canisters (BRIC) hardware has supported a variety of plant growth experiments aboard the space station. The BRIC-19 investigation, the first to collect data for the geneLAB research platform, will focus on the growth and development of Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings in microgravity. A. thaliana is a small flowering plant related to cabbage, and its genetic makeup is simple and well-understood by the plant biology community. This knowledge offers easy recognition of any changes that occur as a result of microgravity adaptation. Plant development on Earth is impacted by mechanical forces such as wind or a plant’s own weight. Researchers hope to get a better understanding of how the growth responses of plants are altered by the absence of these forces when grown in microgravity. The BRIC hardware helps to maximize research and minimize space and crew time since it does not use power to operate and the canister is the size of a bread box. This study may add to the collective body of knowledge about basic plant growth phenomena and could help improve farming practices on Earth. Read full article:
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Photo credit: © NG Images / Alamy / Afripics
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Keywords: arabidopsis, biological, bric, canisters, dragon, genelab, international, microgravity, research, space, spacex, station, thaliana
