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Space Fish: ISS Aquatic Habitat Delivered By HTV-3
astroengine writes "Yes, it's the moment we've all (secretly) been waiting for: Fish In Space! But before you go getting too excited and start asking the big questions — like: if there's a bubble in a microgravity aquarium, what happens if the fish falls into it? Let's ponder that for a minute... — it's worth pointing out that the fish aren't actually in space right now (their habitat has just been delivered to the space station by the unmanned Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle 'Kounotori 3') and this fishy experiment isn't just to see how fish enjoy swimming upside down, there's some serious science behind it."
I would love to learn more about how Fish can live in space and even what changes will need to be made for a tank to work in space. This is a new experament idea and one I am very interested in seeing explored and seeing how it turns out.
Where all fish are flying fish.
p>I'm surprised the first post regarding a Japanese aquarium module didn't go straight to the obvious end involving sushi rice and ponzu sauce?
Sure. Now it's just regular fish. Next it will be sharks, then sharks with lasers. It will be all fun and games until someone loses an eye.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Sound should be able to push bubbles around to prevent build-up of large bubbles.
The only problem then would be the fish spazzing out at the sound waves.
So grid to constantly cycle the water around in a twist to eliminate will probably be the other solution.
Their solution sounds similar to the latter, but obviously far more complex than my simple example.
I expected a sphere over a cuboid. Or even a cone. But hey, I am just guessing. They likely done hundreds of simulations to get the right system with the most space.
Good luck to the experiment. Shall be interesting.
Livingston?
http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Livingston
And how long would it survive trying to breath air?
Aquatic critters can be one link in a combined waste treatment / hydro-ponic growing system. I've heard that a cubic meter of sea water is the most prolific growing medium on earth. I'm interested in the downstream outcomes of science like this.
Also am reminded of an old pulp sc-fi short story that took the form of letters between a Mars bio-dome colonist and the manufacturer of the living bio dome system... they kept adding critters to the dome to try and balance the eco-system, with predictable and silly results.
seamonkeys
And how long would it survive trying to breath air?
Long enough to answer the first three questions.
Let the supernerdage commence!
"Well, technically you're not weightless -- you're microbouyed in microgravity."
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
I'm just wondering if they'd all swim with the same side "up" or if some will swim upside down or sideways or up or some other obtuse orientation. Their swim bladders wouldn't know which way to stay "up".
I hope that the next step after this is taking a cat into space in a properly-designed cage. (You don't want it loose!) Make sure that at least part of the cage is lined with something that the cat can grip so that it has the choice between clinging to the side of the cage and moving around in the inside and see how it adapts. Yes, I know that waste disposal will be a problem, but it's one that we'll have to solve sooner or later anyway.
Good, inexpensive web hosting
Probably comically long enough to hit all the explode space station buttons as it flails around uncontrollably.
Maybe not long enough to learn that the correct usage is "breathe".
And what kind of dumbass thinks that zero-g would enable a fish to "swim" thru air? Is zero-g going to increase the resistance of the air enough to...
ah nevermind. Somedays it doesn't pay to get out of bed.
So long and thanks for all the ... fish.
TFA says there is a webcam. Anyone know if there will be a way for us not on NASA's payroll to watch?
I was wondering if they were babblefish.
Cheers,
Dave
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
Ben
If you're worried about bubbles, then you probably don't understand the real problem: Fish remove dissolved oxygen and add carbon dioxide. On Earth, co2 finds its way to the surface of the water and mixes with regular air. In space, if you haven't solved the problem of getting dissolved co2 and fish poop out of the water, then you're just going to end up with a bunch of dead fish.
The simplest solution is to set up a one-inlet, one-outlet filtration system: Fresh water and fish food comes in with nice fresh dissolved oxygen; dirty water goes out with fish droppings and nasty stale dissolved co2. Any bubbles that make it into this closed loop will move towards the exit at the same speed as the water flow, so the key is to make sure that you don't introduce any "really large" bubbles. That's easy.
I for one welcome our new goldfish overlords.
[...W]hat kind of dumbass thinks that zero-g would enable a fish to "swim" thru air?
The same kind of dumbass that considers that impulse is impulse, regardless of it's under 0G, 1G, or 42G of gravitational pull.
What microgravity doesn't do is make air thicker, but what microgravity /does/ do is make mass just mass, and not weight.
Which means a fish could indeed, swim in air. In the absence of gravity to hold things down, one could simply flap their arms in the air to propel themselves forward, if slowly.
Likewise, so could a fish flap its fins and propel itself slowly through air, in the absence of gravity to cancel out the tiny force imparted on flapping fins against air.
If you took the fish out of the aquarium, would it be able to swim through the air? How fast? Could it steer?
I think we all know the technology we need to answer these important questions. Let's get to work.
"I assumed blithely that there were no elves out there in the darkness"
Maybe not long enough to learn that the correct usage is "breathe".
I guess I deserved that. I'm a little pedantic myself sometimes.
[W]hat kind of dumbass thinks that zero-g would enable a fish to "swim" thru air? Is zero-g going to increase the resistance of the air enough to...
ah nevermind. Somedays it doesn't pay to get out of bed.
If that half-sentence is the best refutation you can shit out, then please, "Dr," just stay in bed.
Thank you, Edward Snowden.
"Arguments from authority are worthless." —Carl Sagan
On the tails of last year's discovery of "ocean like" water in comets [http://io9.com/5847004/comet-discovered-with-ocean+like-water-inside-of-it], this is a logical step. Should we not be looking for "habitable planets" but "habitable orbits"? Which, I suppose, would make every solar system habitable that had either a potentially deflected comet or a budget for fish aquariums ?
Gently reply
How about dolphins for example? They might be able to live normally in space
ics
"Likewise, so could a fish flap its fins and propel itself slowly through air, in the absence of gravity to cancel out the tiny force imparted on flapping fins against air."
However, fish are used to flapping against water, something with far more mass. It's likely that should they find themselves in air they'd rapidly flop around and achieve virtually no propulsion at all.
"I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist"
Flopping requires something to flop *against*. On earth fish "flop" because their propulsion is insufficient to fight gravity in the absence of water's buoyancy. In microgravity buoyancy is not an issue so all their control surfaces will work more-or-less normally in air (sans viscosity effects), just to less effect. Take something like a lungfish or whale that wouldn't suffocate in air and they could probably maneuver adequately once they acclimated to the dramatically slower response times.
Heck, equip them with large, low-mass fin extensions and they'd probably be able to maneuver a LOT better than humans who never evolved to navigate in a fluid environment.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
Alien Versus Predator Versus Jaws
Sure enough, the cow costume was hanging up next to the superhero outfit and sailors uniform. (S,Spud)
Wait, this wasn't a historical account?
On Earth, it's relatively simple to maintain an aquarium. In space... I hae no idea.
Aquariums use several things:
-Filters (impeller based canister filter will work in space.)
-bubblers for dissolved gases.
-food
The biggest question for me, is how do you get good gasses in (O2, CO2 if a planted aqurium) and bad gasses out of the aquarium. On earth, the gasses interact with the surface. In space there is no surface. You can't just pump more gasses in without raising the pressure. What do you do with ammonia and water changes? How do you get a dead fish out? You can't open the aquarium?
Slashdot's rate-of-post filter: Preventing you from posting too many great ideas at once.
Take something like a lungfish or whale that wouldn't suffocate in air and they could probably maneuver adequately once they acclimated to the dramatically slower response times.
Heck, equip them with large, low-mass fin extensions and they'd probably be able to maneuver a LOT better than humans who never evolved to navigate in a fluid environment.
Oh yes, do please apply for a research grant for this.
Forget segways and monorails. I plan on zipping around my future space station home on a bionically-enhanced dolphin!