China conducts zebrafish experiments on the Tiangong space station; understand

A Chinais preparing for send zebrafish to your space station, Tiangong, in an initiative that aims to study the interaction between these small beings and microorganisms in a closed ecosystem.

The fish experiments will help research on bone loss in astronauts, a challenge faced by those who spend long periods in microgravity environments. Learn more below.

adapting to the environment

Zhang Wei, assistant to the commander-in-chief of China's manned space application system, unveiled the plan during the Space Station Science and Application Projects Application Seminar held in Beijing on July 10th.

The objective is to advance knowledge about fish adaptations in microgravity environments and their behavior under such conditions.

(Image: NASA/Reproduction)

While this is a new endeavor for China, it's not the first time fish have been sent into space. In 1976, the

Soviet Union sent zebrafish, also known as Danio Rerio, to the Salyut 5 space station aboard the Soyuz 21 mission.

At the time, Soviet cosmonauts conducted experiments capable of revealing that fish showed behavioral changes in response to the microgravity environment.

Animal research in space is nothing new. Since the dawn of space exploration, monkeys, mice, dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, insects, rats, chimpanzees, cats, turtles and flies were sent on missions to better understand the effects of the space environment on living organisms.

A NASA, for example, sent the first monkey, Albert 1, in 1948, and the first monkey to survive a spaceflight was Yorick in 1951. Later, the Soviet Union sent the famous dog Laika aboard Sputnik 2 in 1957, becoming the first living being to enter Earth's orbit, although unfortunately it did not survive for long time.

Despite the losses, research with animals in space provided valuable information for scientists, allowing technological advances and contributing to the preparation of future space missions manned.

The experiments helped to understand the effects of microgravity on living organisms and to develop mitigation measures for challenges faced by astronauts during long-term space missions duration.

With advances in space technology and the continued commitment to space exploration, studies such as sending zebrafish to the Tiangong space station represent another important step in the quest to better understand space and its interactions with life at Earth.