Four slime molds, or blobs, have been sent to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the Cygnus spacecraft that launched on Tuesday. These single-celled organisms called Physarum polycephalum will be the subject of an educational experiment conducted by French astronaut Thomas Pesquet.
Under the aegis of the French National Centre for Space Studies (CNES), tens of thousands of secondary school students from September will perform experiments on this species, which is neither animal, nor plant, nor fungus, in partnership with the CNRS.
Physarum polycephalum is composed of a single cell and several nuclei. It looks like a yellow spongy mass and has no mouth, legs or brain. Yet it eats, grows, moves (very slowly), and has amazing learning abilities.
The creature can also divide at will and go dormant by dehydrating. It is in the dormant state that several pieces of blob will make their journey on board a cargo ship supplying the ISS.
The astronauts will rehydrate them in September in petri dishes on the ISS. In one experiment, some moulds will have access to oatmeal while others will be deprived of food. This will be done to understand if microgravity impacts their behaviour and strategies.
Demain, le blob décolle pour la @Space_Station à bord du cargo #Cygnus #NG16 🚀
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Il ne sera pas seul : Lumina, Eklosion, TetrISS et Edible Foam seront aussi du voyage🧳
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The aim is to observe the effects of weightlessness on the organism.
"Today, no one knows how it will behave in microgravity: in what direction will it move, will it take on the third dimension by going upwards, or obliquely?" asks Pierre Ferrand, a professor of Earth sciences and life seconded to Cnes, one of the initiators of the project.
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Blob distribution
On the ground, thousands of blob specimens, belonging to the same strain as those on the ISS, will be distributed to 4,500 schools, colleges and high schools in France.
When Thomas Pesquet humidifies his blobs on the ISS, the students will do the same in class. They will then start taking pictures to compare his behaviour with or without gravity.
Because it challenges certain scientific theories, the blob is likely to provoke many discussions in the classroom.
"For example, in cell theory, it is said that every cell divides into two cells. With the blob, this does not work, since it is a single cell that grows without ever dividing," explains Pierre Ferrand.
The blob appeared on Earth more than 500 million years ago, long before the animals. For a long time, it was considered a fungus, before being classified as an amoebozoan in the 1990s.
(with AFP)
