NASA is looking to send new habitats for rodents to the International Space Station (ISS) to study the effect of weightlessness on long trips in space.
The cages will be sent to the ISS in August 2014 on an unmanned SpaceX Dragon cargo ship, according to Gizmag.
Mice and rats have played an important role in space medicine, with the first mice flying in a V-2 rocket in 1950. Mice have flown to the Space Shuttle at least 27 times between 1983 and 2011.
The new habitat was created at the space agency's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., NDTV Gadgets reported. It includes a transport module and an access module that let the rodents move from the transporter to their habitat in the station. These modules prevent the rodents from escaping and hanging out behind the control panels.
The cage can hold six rats or 10 mice. NASA said it provides the animals with food, water, fresh air and lighting.
The habitat also has rods that the animals can grasp when they move around, Gizmag reported.
Data links and a visual/infrared video system are included to help scientists monitor their charges.
Zero gravity has caused a number of health problems to astronauts on the ISS, such as weakening of bones, loss of muscle mass, and problems with nervous, cardiovascular, endocrine, reproductive and immune systems, NDTV Gadgets reported.
NASA said observing rats in space will help scientists understand these effects at the genetic and molecular level so that they can find ways to solve these issues.
Advantages of using rodents for the study include their diet, organs and immune system being similar to humans, as well as having a short lifespan (only 18 months to two years). Their lifespan allows for them to be studied at all stages of development, Gizmag reported.
"Studies that use different genetic strains of rodents will help researchers pinpoint the roles played by specific genes in gravity sensing and responses," said Ruth Globus, Ph.D., Rodent Research Project scientist and researcher in the Space Biosciences Division at Ames.
The flight is scheduled for SpaceX's CRS-4 mission on Aug. 8th. After the mission, a technical assessment will be issued for the modules, which will be used to study muscle atrophy and treatment. A second rodent mission will fly on CRS-6 if the first is successful.
