- #1
Vinni
- 31
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The kinds of experiments involving animals in space have only answered simple questions of survivability in captivity where human assistance is at hand. The big problems of space colonization have yet to be answered. I thought up this question when someone on this forum posted a response to my question of a large scale hydroponic space experiment where they answered the experiment could be conducted on earth! But subtly a ground base experiment could not answer some important questions. For instance the issue of pollination could be problematic on a large scale using artificial means, like say fans that blow air with sufficient force to move pollen. So the next approach would be bees. But can bees survive in zero gravity, and in orbit where the sun zips across a dome every fifteen minutes? Remember bees use the sun to orient themselves to return to their hive or food cache.
Some jump to the immediate conclusion that because bees have been placed in orbit and shown to produce honey that the question of their survival in orbit has already been answered. But just as orbiting dogs and cats proved that these animals survived the trip they did so in a very controlled way. If you think about it a dog or cat on the ISS just floating around is going to have a real hard time. Because the animal cannot grasp handles it would be impossible for it to have any kind of control over its location and movement on the space station! The animals ability to just travel to its food pouch is impossible, in fact such a space trip for the animal would create a lot of anxiety and perhaps even depression because it cannot move about freely. So in the end can dogs and cats really survive in zero gravity?
But the more important question for the colonization of space is can bees or some other pollinator survive in zero gravity? Can the bees orient themselves so they do not become confused as to where their hive is located? A good experiment for hydroponics and the issue of pollinating is a decent size sphere, perhaps 50 ft in diameter, something large enough where bees could find it difficult to return to their hive and has a scale of efficacy for filtering water and air.
Some jump to the immediate conclusion that because bees have been placed in orbit and shown to produce honey that the question of their survival in orbit has already been answered. But just as orbiting dogs and cats proved that these animals survived the trip they did so in a very controlled way. If you think about it a dog or cat on the ISS just floating around is going to have a real hard time. Because the animal cannot grasp handles it would be impossible for it to have any kind of control over its location and movement on the space station! The animals ability to just travel to its food pouch is impossible, in fact such a space trip for the animal would create a lot of anxiety and perhaps even depression because it cannot move about freely. So in the end can dogs and cats really survive in zero gravity?
But the more important question for the colonization of space is can bees or some other pollinator survive in zero gravity? Can the bees orient themselves so they do not become confused as to where their hive is located? A good experiment for hydroponics and the issue of pollinating is a decent size sphere, perhaps 50 ft in diameter, something large enough where bees could find it difficult to return to their hive and has a scale of efficacy for filtering water and air.
. So I can't see how they'd survive in zero gravity without humans.