Chinese scientists are planning to send monkeys to space to study reproduction in zero gravity. The experiment would be conducted on China’s new Tiangong space station, inside the Wentian lab module, reported South China Morning Post.
“Some studies involving mice and macaques will be carried out to see how they grow or even reproduce in space. These experiments will help improve our understanding of an organism’s adaptation to microgravity and other space environments," Zhang Lu, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was quoted as saying by SCMP.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences is responsible for leading the development project and will arrange for the equipment needed to conduct the experiment.
The module, which currently has only enough room for algae, fish or snails, has been designed in a way to expand and configure for larger organisms. The report also mentioned that if the monkeys are sent into the space station, they will need to feed them and deal with the waste.
The final module of the Taingong space station was docked last Tuesday and with that China is ready to conduct tests in its own long-term permanent presence beyond Earth's orbit.
China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) has set a goal of more than 1,000 experiments to be conducted in fields ranging from technical spheres to medical science. The agency has also received application requests from many other countries and currently has around 9 international space experiments which will be launched to the Tiangong Space Station, which is 388.9 kilometers above the Earth, according to media reports,
