Daily Archives: January 26, 2014

A small colony of sterile ants in space will help scientists learn how these creatures adjust to microgravity.

For millions of years, ants have been one of most industrious creatures on Earth. Now we're going to see how they fare in space.

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With the help of NASA, a team of scientists now seeks to understand how the insects, renowned by biologists for their navigational and organizational skills, adjust to microgravity.

The experiment could provide us with a better understanding of foraging methods used by ants, the University of Colorado's Stefanie Countryman, one of the co-investigators of the experiment, told the Monitor.

After a two-day voyage, Orbital Science's robotic Cygnus spacecraft delivered the 640 small black common pavement ants to the International Space Station on January 12.

To avoid infestation, sterile worker ants were chosen for the project.

The ants were divided into eight equal groups each consisting of 80 ants. They were assigned to their individual habitats, eight in total. A habitat, says Stanford biologist Deborah Gordon, principal investigator of the project, is a 4-inch by 6-inch covered arena made of acrylic with three sub sections Nest, Forage Area 1, and Forage Area 2.

The ants were first kept in the nest area before the experiment was initiated. As soon as the ants reached the space stationthey were moved to Forage Area 1 a more compact subsection within the habitat where density of ants was high. Their interactions and path shape were monitored on video for 25 minutes, according to NASA.

Continue reading here:
Ants in space! Cygnus craft delivers 640 new astronauts to space station.

The deadline is approaching for the CALL FOR PAPERS 3rd Annual International Space Station Research and Development Conference - Discoveries, Applications and Opportunities

Organized by the American Astronautical Society with the support of NASA and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS)

Hyatt Regency McCormick Place

Chicago, Illinois

ABSTRACT DEADLINE: February 14, 2014

The annual International Space Station (ISS) Research and Development Conference will be held June 17-19, 2014, at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place in Chicago. Abstracts and poster proposals are solicited under the categories of Discoveries in Microgravity Science; Discoveries in Space Science, Earth Science, Engineering and Education; Applications Benefiting Earth; Applications Enabling Exploration; Applications in Technology; Commercial Applications; and Opportunities. Topics should relate to science, exploration and technology activities (past, present, planned or under development) on the International Space Station.

One of NASAs top strategic goals is to sustain the operation and full use of the International Space Station and expand efforts to utilize the ISS as a National Laboratory for scientific, technological, diplomatic and educational purposes and for supporting future objectives in human space exploration (2011 NASA Strategic Plan).

NASAs International Space Station website

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments_category.html

See the original post:
CALL FOR PAPERS 3rd Annual International Space Station Research and Development Conference

1 day ago Jan. 24, 2014 - 4:33 PM PST

On January 12, the International Space Station crew unloaded the recently-arrived Antares rocket, which contained precious cargo like food, spare parts and tiny satellites. Along for the ride was a colony of ants with a very unique purpose: to demonstrate how the ever-efficient insects adapt to life in microgravity.

If youve ever had an ant invasion in your home, you know this pattern: A single ant finds a source of nourishment and then turns into a milling mass of ants ferrying food back to the colony. Meanwhile, individual ants fan out to investigate the rest of the room.

These behaviors do not come from the queen or some other central force. Instead, they are built on innate algorithms that ants developed over millions of years, according to Stanford University. Ants have poor vision, so they rely on smell and touch for guidance while exploring. When the number of ants is more dense, they are more likely to touch each other, which triggers them to explore in tight spirals. If they run into a low number of other ants, they walk in a straight line. This combination means that they spend more time thoroughly exploring an area that is interesting enough to attract other ants and cover a lot of ground while exploring other regions.

Its a system that interests robotics researchers. If a fleet of robots is exploring a collapsed building, they can work more quickly if they dont have to rely on a central commander to tell them where to go.

But what happens if you disrupt the very basis of the ants communication system? Stanford University researchers decided to answer the question by sending ants into space, where low gravity would alter how many times they encounter other ants. About 70 ants were placed in a container that shifted in size to reveal different behaviors.

Stanford biology professor Deborah Gordon

In microgravity, the struggle to walk interferes with interactions, in particular the relation between density and interaction rate, said biology professor Deborah Gordon, who designed the experiment. Thus each ant has less information about density, and so less information to influence its path shape and searching behavior.

How the ants react could inform robot behavior in scenarios where radio communications have been interrupted. If its smoky or dusty and they can no longer communicate, the robots could develop a new system on the spot that still allows them to search an area thoroughly and efficiently.

Gordon, whose interest in ants began with a broader interest in central control-free systems like brains and embryos, said it is very exciting to send an experiment to the ISS. Her team will now study video from the ants time aboard the space station to work out how they responded to microgravity.

Excerpt from:
How ants in space could help researchers build a better robot