Keep the shuttle flying: Fwd: Geckos onboard Russia’s Photon re-entry capsule die

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: September 2, 2014 4:48:14 PM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Geckos onboard Russia's Photon re-entry capsule die

On the state of biological objects aboard "Foton-M» № 4
01.09.2014 18:25
Today, September 1 lander "Foton-M» № 4 at 13:18 MSK landed in a predetermined area of the Orenburg region.
After extraction of biological objects from the lander to carry out the initial evaluation, it was found that the fly Drosophila moved spaceflight well, successfully developed and bred. All geckos, unfortunately, died. Date of death and the conditions set by experts.
Currently, scientific equipment with experiments prepared for transportation to the laboratory research institutes.
The press service of the Russian Space Agency and the Institute of Biomedical Problems of RAS

Geckos onboard Russia's Photon re-entry capsule die
September 01, 19:35 UTC+4
The spacecraft carried specimens for research of the biological effects of zero gravity and cosmic radiation

© ITAR-TASS/EPA/LUONG THAI LINH

MOSCOW, September 01 ITAR-TASS — All geckos in Russia's Photon re-entry capsule that landed on Monday died, the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) said.
The sapce agency said the fruit flies "got through the flight quite well, grew and bred", but "all geckos died, unfortunately".
The Photon-M4 satellite was launched on July 19, 2014 from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan. The spacecraft carried specimens for research of the biological effects of zero gravity and cosmic radiation.
The specimens included geckos, silkworm eggs, dried seeds, fruit flies, and mushrooms. The geckos were part of biology experiments conducted by Russia's Institute of Medico-Biological Problems on the effects of weightlessness on mating.
Another experiment aboard the spacecraft is designed to measure the effects of microgravity on semiconductor crystal growth.
The spacecraft's flight time was limited to 60 days. Photon satellites are designed and made by the Progress Rocket and Space Centre for research and experiments in such fields as the physics of weightlessness, space biology and biotechnology, including the affect of outer space on living specimens.
Roscosmos said earlier in the day that the fruit flies "got through the flight quite well, grew and bred" but "all geckos died, unfortunately".
The first satellites of the series was launched in 1985 and operated for 13 days.
In 2005, the Photon-M2 satellite carried out about 20 scientific Russian and European research programs. The next satellite, Photon-M3, in 2007 performed 45 Russian and foreign experiments.

© Copyright 2014 ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved.

Geckos on Mission Die Aboard Russian Spacecraft
By ANDREW ROTH
SEPT. 1, 2014
MOSCOW — Five geckos launched into space by Russia for an experiment on sexual reproduction in near-zero gravity were found dead on Monday after their spacecraft returned to earth, the Russian space agency Roscosmos announced in a statement.
The reptiles, popularly called the "sex geckos" because of their mission, gained notoriety in July when Roscosmos briefly lost contact with their Foton-M4 satellite and feared that its life-support systems might have failed. But communication with the satellite was re-established and the experiment continued.
A colony of fruit flies aboard the spacecraft survived the flight.
"All the geckos, unfortunately, were killed," the agency wrote in a statement posted on its website. "The date and conditions of their deaths is being determined by specialists."

© 2014 The New York Times Company

September 02, 2014 14:08

Hypothermia kills biosatellite geckos - source
MOSCOW. Sept 2 (Interfax-AVN) - Hypothermia has killed geckos, test subjects traveling aboard the Foton-M4 research spacecraft, a source in the commission, which controlled the landing and evacuation of the spacecraft's scientific payload, told Interfax-AVN.
"Tentative information shows that geckos have frozen to death. Most probably, thermal regulation equipment in the animals' compartment broke down," he said.
The geckos could have died at any stage of the flight and it is impossible to tell the time of death by their mummies, the source said, adding that reports alleging the gecko deaths happened about a week ago were wrong.
The source noted that the spacecraft's failure to reach the final orbit was not the cause of the animals' death.
At the same time, the researchers have a reason to be happy: the Foton-M instruments studying the possibility of life brought to the Earth from the outer space are intact, he said. The objects, which looked like rocks with multiple cavities, were installed on the spacecraft's surface and passed through the Earth atmosphere unharmed.
"In contrast to a similar experiment staged by the Bion spacecraft, the scientific instruments mounted on the spacecraft's surface were unharmed and successfully removed," the source said.
The scientists corrected mistakes of the Bion experiment in which some of the scientific instruments melted in dense layers of the atmosphere, the source said.
Te
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Russian spacecraft back on Earth after six-week mission
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
September 1, 2014
An unmanned Russian space capsule returned to Earth on Monday after six weeks in orbit for microgravity research, but officials said five geckos flown for space sex experiments perished on the journey.

The Foton M4 landing craft after touchdown Monday in the Orenburg region of southern Russia. Credit: Roscosmos

The Foton M4 spacecraft's pressurized return capsule, derived from the Vostok capsule flown by Yuri Gagarin on the first human spaceflight in 1961, re-entered the atmosphere and parachuted to a landing in the Orenburg region of southern Russia. Landing occurred at 0918 GMT (5:18 a.m. EDT) Monday, according to a statement from Roscosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency.
Recovery teams reached the capsule, opened the hatch to access its interior, and began extracting research specimens and other gear.
Experts are assessing when and why the geckos died, Roscosmos officials said.
Scientists sent up the geckos to keep track of their sexual habits in space, research that officials say could yield information on how reproductive behavior might be altered during long-duration space missions.
Officials reported no other problems with the mission's experiments, which included 1,900 pounds of specimens and support hardware inside the Foton M4 spacecraft.
A colony of fruit flies weathered the mission well, according to Roscosmos, and successfully developed and bred in space.
Scientists also planned to study dried seeds and silkworm eggs inside the Foton space capsule to determine their response to cosmic radiation, and the satellite carries several experiments for research into microbes.
A joint Russian-German experiment inside the capsule is designed to measure the growth of semiconductor crystals in microgravity, an investigation scientists hope will lead to advancements in solar cells, light emitting diodes, transistors and other applications in the electronics industry.
"The goal is to produce crystals with the highest possible quality," said a statement by DLR, the German space agency.

Recovery technicians swarm the Foton M4 capsule after its landing Monday. Credit: Roscosmos

Three types of materials were to be heated up inside a Russian-made furnace housed inside the Foton M4 spacecraft. Once melted, the samples will crystallize as scientists study the influence of magnetic fields and vibrations on their growth.
Preflight plans called for the samples be divided among Russian and German scientists at the end of the mission.
Once technicians retrieve the experiments from the spacecraft, the equipment will be handed over to researchers for analyses in laboratories.
The capsule launched July 18 on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, but the mission ran into problems hours after liftoff. The craft stopped responding to commands from ground controllers and missed a rocket burn to raise its orbit to the planned 575-kilometer (357-mile) altitude.
Roscosmos announced a week later that engineers restored communications with the capsule, but the satellite never boosted its orbit.
Officials shortened the mission from its planned two-month duration to about 44 days.
The mission is the 16th flight of a recoverable Foton spacecraft since 1985.
Engineers introduced several upgrades on the Foton M4 mission to extend the duration of the flight, including solar panels to generate electricity and a new propulsion module to adjust its orbit.

© 2014 Spaceflight Now Inc.

News
Russian Sex Geckos 'Died Simultaneously in Space, But Weren't Mummified'
By Matthew Bodner
Sep. 02 2014 16:46
Last edited 16:47
Autopsies performed on Russia's infamous sex geckos indicate that they died en masse about two days prior to their return to earth, leading scientist Sergei Savelyev said Tuesday.
Russian news reports had claimed earlier that the geckos were found frozen and "mummified," a claim resolutely denied by Savelyev, the man in charge of the experiment.
Their mission was simple: have sex in order to facilitate research on the effects of microgravity on reproduction.
They were launched into space from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan nearly two months ago to carry out a 60-day mission. But citing the mission's apparent success, Russia's space agency Roscosmos announced last week that the crew would return home after only 44 days in orbit.
Sadly, the entire crew of sex geckos was found dead on arrival in Orenburg on Monday.
Savelyev told reporters that autopsies were expected to be conducted on the entire five-gecko crew by the end of Tuesday.
He added that the geckos died practically simultaneously, lamenting: "The poor things died within a few hours of each other," state news agency RIA Novosti reported.
The geckos likely died within the past two or three days, Savelyev said. Denying earlier reports of frozen gecko mummies, he noted that the mummification process would have required at least a month to take place.
In comments to Interfax, Savelyev said that a failure of the life-support system was likely to blame for the deaths. He then launched into a tirade about the state of the space program's management and its shoe-string budget.
Savelyev, told Interfax that biologists would refuse to send any future geckos into space until engineers could devise a reliable method to keep them alive. "This is a mockery of science," he exclaimed.
Roscosmos and the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medical and Biological Programs — the agencies that jointly conducted the experiment — have opened a special investigation to study data from the satellite and produce a more conclusive report.
Moreover, the space agency will phase out the use of the Foton-series spacecraft for future biological satellite missions, moving instead to the newer Bion-M vehicles.

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