'Mouse-Tronaughts' to Test Low-Gravity in Space

RandBlade writes "The Telegraph has an article about plans to launch mice into space with simulated low-gravity for five weeks, to test the effects of low-gravity on their bodies. This "will be the first time mammals of any kind have lived in partial gravity for an extended period." Hopes are that this will provide information useful for plans to launch men to Mars, which has one-third of the gravity of Earth."

Comments

First time for mammals

[baryon351]

> This "will be the first time mammals of any kind have lived in > partial gravity for an extended period."

As opposed to those reptilian astronauts.

Re:First time for mammals

[rocketsled]

Yeah, but who gets to clean the cage?

Mouse-Tronaughts?

[Tirel]

so people in space are what? Homo-tronaughts?

Re:Mouse-Tronaughts?

[NanoGator]

"so people in space are what? Homo-tronaughts? "

That's what we were prepared to call Lance Bass.

'naut' == 'naught'?

[Anonymous Coward]

Not!

I remember doing this

[ReidMaynard]

with those solid rocket kits back in the 1960's.

We did it with hamsters, if I remember the control hamster got fatter than astro-hamster, but since there were just the two hamsters, well ...

Re:I remember doing this

[nacturation]

We did it with hamsters, if I remember the control hamster got fatter than astro-hamster, but since there were just the two hamsters, well ...

You misspelled flatter.

Re:They contradict themselves in the article

[nomadic]

Oh, wait a sec - it's the Daily Telegraph. Seriously, it's like the British newspaper equivalent of Slashdot.

So the readers actually do all the work of writing articles, and tomorrow's edition will have the same exact story?

Re:Reproduction in space

[cowscows]

You build a huge tube from venus to mars, throw in a few pumps, and move the CO2 over to the red planet! Viola! Two planets terrarformed for the price of one!

KFM - its preparation for spacefood

[Tandoori Haggis]

When you get to Mars you'll want something to eat that doesn't squeeze out of a tube. Kentucky Fried Mice could be a start. First colonise the mice then
modify them to grow as big as rats.

Yum Yum

Re:Reproduction in space

[Richard W.M. Jones]

Can people reproduce on other planets? Can any earth creature?

I don't know, but I'm willing to give it a try!

Rich.

Mice in space?

[FrostedWheat]

They're Pinky and the Brain?

Pinky: What are we gonna to tommorow night Brain?
Brain: Same thing we do every night Pinky. Try to take over the space capsule!

Mice leaving...

[criordan]

Mice leaving the planet... what do they know that we don't?

One difference...

[Gudlyf]

...is that humans won't be floating around in low-gravity with five weeks of their own feces flying around them. Have you ever seen the amount of dung those little buggers put out on an hourly basis?! It's absurd! How do they plan to handle that?

Actually nevermind, I probably don't want to know.

i think there's been a misunderstanding

[real_smiff]

People in space *are* Astronauts (from the greek astron, meaning star, and naut, meaning sailor).

Unfortunately this means 'Mousetronauts' are people who sail into mice. Right, perhaps someone should call the paper.

Re:i think there's been a misunderstanding

[Zalgon 26 McGee]

So what should we call Richard Gere?

Re:i think there's been a misunderstanding

[Gojira Shipi-Taro]

Well technically speaking, his gerbil would be an Ass-tronaut.

Just a means of escape...

[interactive_civilian]

Those mice are just so damn clever.

Obviously, this is simply a means for more of them to escape and take data back to their own dimension before the Earth is destroyed to make way for a hyperspatial bypass route 5 minutes before its task is complete.

Cursed Vogons.

Of course, pretty soon NASA will be wishing that they had gotten us to Alpha Centauri to file our complaints...oh well...at least they won't be bitter for very long...

;-)

Re:They contradict themselves in the article

[blorg]

... and tomorrow's edition will have the same exact story?

If the story is complaining about immigration or the European Union, then yes, you have a very good chance.

Re:They contradict themselves in the article

[lokedhs]

"this is slashdot" is the slashdot version of godwins law.

MOD PARENT UP

[MtlDty]

The first thing I thought of when I saw the mice/space thing was HHGTTG. And I had to scroll all the way down to find a comment linking the two, AND ITS MODDED OFFTOPIC??

Surely the only reason this news hit slashdot is the obvious H2G2 reference?

Re:Reproduction in space

[Peale]

It may turn out that the only viable planet to really colonize is Venus, then, it becomes a question of, what do we do with 10^20 tons of carbon dioxide!

Make a lot of soda pop.

Re:Reproduction in space

[orthogonal]

Can people reproduce on other planets? Can any earth creature?

I don't know, but I'm willing to give it a try!

Rich.

Rich, Rich, Rich.

NASA, given its recent history, really needs more successes to name. Do you really think the first humans NASA will pick to reproduce on other planers will be Slashdot posters?

At the very least, NASA is going to want people with experience procreating -- or those having had the opportunity to procreate -- here on Earth.

Re:isn't this pointless?

[madpierre]

Hamster + Wheel + Dynamo = Electricity

No more flat batteries in our mars rovers.
And as a bonus the Hamster could be trained
to re-boot the cpu in case of glitches.

Re:Reproduction in space

[DrLudicrous]

I hope your tube is heat-resistent, because when mars and venus are on opposite sides of the sun, guess what happens?

Re:No matter which way you slice it, he's still wr

[Cappy Red]

I wish I could say I was beginning to wonder when PIE was going to come into it. I wish that, and I bow my head in shame for not wondering that.

*honk*

Re:Reproduction in space

[Tachys]

humans on the moon would be taller but weaker than earth humans and perhaps one day be diffrent enough that they would be considered a diffrent species.

So basically they will become elves?