ROSCOSMOS - Bion-M 1 Mission patch.
Jan 30, 2022
The Russian satellite "Bion-M" No. 1 for biological research in space flew in 2013. "Bion-M" No. 2 is planned to be sent into orbit at the turn of 2023-2024. Deputy Director for Research at the Institute of Biomedical Problems (IMBP) of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Sychev told the Russian Space magazine why launches of unmanned vehicles with living organisms are needed today.
On November 3, 1957, the world's first biological satellite was launched into space in our country. For the first time in history, a living creature, a dog named Laika, visited the circumplanetary orbit. Studies of living organisms in space continued later. In our country, in particular, they were carried out on satellites of the Bion series. In total, twelve flights of such devices have been completed so far: eleven were made from 1973 to 1996. on the first versions of "Bion", and in 2013 a new spacecraft "Bion-M" flew.
Each time, a lot of different experiments were performed on the satellite, which helped create a preventive system for astronauts in orbit. For example, on "Bion" No. 4, ten rats were in zero gravity, and another twenty were located in centrifuges that continuously create artificial gravity. On the "Bions" from the 6th to the 11th, monkeys flew.
—Vladimir Nikolaevich, what results were obtained after the study of the “passengers” of Bion-M No. 1 and why change the orbit of the second biosatellite of this series?
— The "crew" of the spacecraft "Bion-M" No. 1 was formed at the IBMP. It included 45 mice, eight gerbils, 15 geckos, snails, crustaceans, fish and various microorganisms. More than 70 experiments were performed within 30 days. As a result of the flight, we received a lot of information, and very peculiar. For example, they found serious changes in the brain of rodents. The arteries of animals, like humans, not only bring blood from the heart to the organs, but also regulate pressure - they expand, contract. It turned out that in the rodents that were in Bion-M No. 1, one of the arteries that deliver blood to the brain stopped contracting. It has been expanded all the time. This showed that the regulation of the brain's blood supply was disrupted. Throughout the flight, intracranial pressure in rodents was increased.
It was also found that the genes encoding "muscle" proteins reduce their expression not only in muscles, but also in other organs where there are no muscles. What is it - a defensive reaction to a new environment or the impact of weightlessness, radiation, and other space flight factors? To answer this question, you need to change one of the components of the flight. We cannot change weightlessness, so we change the radiation load. If the orbit is raised from 570 km to 800 km, the radiation background will be 10 times higher than on the first Bion-M, and 30 times higher than on the International Space Station (per day, the crew of the ISS, which flies at an altitude of 450 km , receives a dose of radiation equivalent to five to six chest x-ray sessions. - Ed.).
- Rodents are similar to humans in terms of blood composition, tissue structure, and physiological reactions. What can the changes you have identified in the organisms of mice lead to if you transfer the data obtained to humans?
- Orbital space flights, which are now performed by crews on the ISS, are not so dangerous for the body, since we have learned to stop the negative impact of space in Earth's orbit. So we need to talk about more distant wanderings. In mice, even after flying to a height of 575 km, learning ability sharply decreases and the reaction becomes worse. It should be noted that a 30-day flight of mice is equivalent to a two-year human flight.
The conclusions obtained can lead to the following: if a person flies to Mars, then, perhaps, he will no longer be able to quickly and competently respond to some kind of stress, emergency situations. We are able to protect it from the negative factors of weightlessness with the help of special simulators, medications, while we still have no protection against other adverse components of deep space flight, because we know little about their effect on the body. More complete predictive estimates can be obtained only after regular flights outside the Earth's orbit. But do not try to study it on a person!
We need to continue the program of biosatellites, launching them into other, higher orbits and beyond the Earth's magnetosphere. In addition, modern methods allow us to conduct research at the systemic, organ, cellular and molecular levels, make it possible to see what we could not see before or by examining only a person.
— Does it make sense to conduct experiments with animals on the ISS, as it was on Mir?
— There were few experiments with biological objects at the orbital stations. For the most part, they were associated with the study of animals and plants in order to determine how they can be included in the life support system during deep space flights. Biosatellites, on the other hand, make it possible to conduct a whole range of biomedical research. For example, in the scientific program "Bion-M" No. 2 there are more than twenty experiments - a whole scientific laboratory. Research of such a volume on the ISS will require an order of magnitude increase in costs.
— There were 45 mice on the apparatus "Bion-M" No. 1. On the second one, it is planned to send 75. What is the reason for the increase in the number of rodents?
— On the first "Bion-M" we had 15 mice in each of the three installations. One group of rodents died immediately due to equipment failure. Of the remaining 30, we lost 14. This is actually not so much, because they sent males, and they are very aggressive: when they get into a stressful situation, they bite each other.
Why couldn't you send females?
“Their body has a lot of protective functions that stop the impact of the negative factors of space flight.
“If so, wouldn’t it be better to send women into deep space?”
— It is not excluded. But so far there is not enough data to specifically say something.
— Americans, French, Germans, Koreans participated in the scientific program "Bion-M" No. 1. Are there any applications from them for further research?
—Yes, the first "Bion-M" aroused great scientific interest among foreign partners. There was an extensive joint program with the Germans. Unfortunately, their experiment with equipment that simulates the life support system of fish was unsuccessful. But the Germans also participated in the post-flight study of mice. The French made systems for obtaining vital physiological information from sensors implanted in rodents (pressure, pulse rate, etc.).
When it came to the second "Bion-M", negotiations began with the French on the development of the same system for the new biosatellite. An agreement has been signed, work is underway to create the necessary equipment. But we must understand that the flight itself is only the beginning of the journey. The main results will be obtained in the course of post-flight studies.
We have 40 applications for post-flight analysis. At the same time, both Russian and foreign scientists propose to distribute among the participants not mice, but biomaterial that has received the greatest impact from space flight factors (brain, heart, genitals, muscles, bone marrow, spleen, arteries). There are a lot of people who want to participate in post-flight research. For example, 260 applications were submitted for the heart, and taking into account the possible death of animals, 75 mice will not be enough to satisfy all requests as much as possible.
A post-flight research program is currently being formed. It is already obvious that, in relation to some tissues, the number of samples requested by the project participants significantly exceeds their possible number, even with the most favorable outcomes of the flight experiment. In order to provide scientists with the requested material, it is planned to process tissues at the IBMP (for example, to isolate RNA) and distribute prepared samples, rather than raw tissues, among working groups. This will significantly increase the volume of research and scientific returns.
— What scientific equipment is being prepared by the IBMP for the forthcoming flight of Biona-M No. 2?
— We are making a system that allows generating electric current with the help of microbes, containers for fruit flies, a system of radio detectors, special containers for exposing biological objects on the outer surface of the satellite. In addition, we are creating equipment for the Meteorite experiment to assess the likelihood of bringing life to Earth from space: granite disks with various microorganisms are embedded in the shell of the descent vehicle, and after the flight they are removed and checked which strains of microorganisms survived.
We have already done a similar experiment on the first "Bion-M" and the fourth "Photon-M". And some strains of microbes survived. Each time, some new facts are revealed that require additional experiments. Therefore, we need a program that allows step by step to look for answers to emerging questions.
“Perhaps we will soon go beyond the limits of the earth's orbit. For medical and biological studies of the joint influence of interplanetary flight factors on living organisms, the Vozvrat-MKA laboratory is being created. Who are they planning to send into space on a new device and to what height?
- Various options are being discussed regarding the height: up to 200 thousand km, that is, far beyond the low Earth orbit, through the radiation belts and above. Of course, these will be experiments with well-studied animals on Earth. The device will be small. RCC "Progress" has already calculated the options. It turns out that we can provide twenty mice and about 50 kg of other payload in it for 30 days.
However, one flight, again, will not provide complete information, so we hope that there will be several launches of Vozvrata-MKA. It was not for nothing that the biosatellite program in the USSR was serial - the results obtained became clear on the basis of statistics. The Bion series devices were launched every two years, and now we have a ten-year difference between flights. And it turns out: we got results, questions appeared, and it is impossible to find prompt answers to them without new flights.
With the help of the Vozvrat-MKA devices, we will be able to study the cumulative effect on the animal body of new factors of space flight, such as altered gravity, hypomagnetic environment, other dose loads with other sources of radiation effects on the body.
Svetlana Nosenkova, Russian space.
Related articles:
Spacecraft Bion-M № 1 returns to Earth
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2013/05/spacecraft-bion-m-1-returns-to-earth.html
Bion-M1 with a crew of duplicate mice into orbit
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2013/04/bion-m1-with-crew-of-duplicate-mice.html
Related links:
ROSCOSMOS Press Release: https://www.roscosmos.ru/33935/
Russian space: https://www.roscosmos.ru/tag/russkiy-kosmos/
Bion-M: https://www.roscosmos.ru/tag/bion-m/
IBMP RAS: https://www.roscosmos.ru/tag/imbp-ran/
Images, Text, Credits; ROSCOSMOS/Russian space/IBMP RAS/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
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