Beijing: Four laboratory mice have returned to Earth with three astronauts aboard the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft after spending nearly two weeks aboard China’s space station, bringing back valuable experimental data for further study. China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported that the four mice were launched into the Chinese space station on the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft on October 31st to test how organisms adapt to the challenges of the space environment. However, because their stay on the station was longer than planned, their orbital time was nearly doubled.
According to Thai News Agency, as the first mammals sent to the Tiangong space station, these mice were monitored in multidimensional ways with video cameras throughout their orbit. Their activities and behaviors were closely monitored, including eating, sleeping, elimination, adaptive changes in the mice’s tissues and organs in the space environment, their responses to stress, and their adaptation mechanisms to weightlessness. They were housed in nests inside cages equipped with an internal turbulence system that blew fur, feces, and other debris into a sticky-surfaced box below to maintain cleanliness and hygiene for the mice.
Researchers will use these video data to study and understand how weightlessness and other confined environments affect their behavior and adaptations. The experiment is also crucial for assessing the feasibility of long-term human survival and reproduction in space, and may also provide valuable insights into human health on Earth. It is an important step in enhancing China’s space bioscience capabilities.