Similar to Slime, Scientists Will Send Mushrooms to the Space Station

Suara.com – Scientists will send mold yellow slime-like and single-celled, known as Blob ke Space Station International (ISS).

Blob is a natural slime mold that has a scientific name Physarum polycephalum.

However, the European Space Agency (ESA) which sent the Blob to the ISS to be observed in microgravity, decided to call the mushroom by a nickname.

“The fungus is made up of just one cell, the brainless clump is still able to move, feed and regulate itself,” the ESA said. CNET, Thursday (5/8/2021).

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The aim of the Blob investigation was to study the effect of microgravity on Blob behavior.

Scientists want to know if organisms behave differently in space and how microgravity and radiation affect their evolution.

Blob is scheduled to launch to the ISS on August 10 together on a NASA commercial supply mission.

Upon arrival at the ISS, ESA astronaut and space photographer Thomas Pesquet will add water to the Blob to wake him up and photograph him under two scientific protocols.

The first protocol will study how two blobs respond to each other in an environment without food.

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Another protocol will analyze Blob when food is available, such as wheat.

ESA also involved elementary, middle, and high school students in France and ESA member countries in this study.

Students can conduct a similar experiment and compare their results with a time-lapse video from the ISS to observe differences in Blob shape and growth.

The French Space Agency, CNES, is also partnering with the country’s national scientific research center on the research.

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