{"id":15579,"date":"2016-04-19T01:02:19","date_gmt":"2016-04-18T17:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/chinese-space-lab-back-on-earth-after-groundbreaking-embryo-experiment\/"},"modified":"2016-04-19T01:02:19","modified_gmt":"2016-04-18T17:02:19","slug":"chinese-space-lab-back-on-earth-after-groundbreaking-embryo-experiment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/chinese-space-lab-back-on-earth-after-groundbreaking-embryo-experiment\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese space lab back on Earth after groundbreaking embryo experiment"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Chinese
Chinese technicians greet the Shijian 10 landing module after its touchdown Monday in the Inner Mongolia region. Credit: Xinhua\/Chen Junqing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An uncrewed spacecraft landed in China\u2019s Inner Mongolia region Monday after nearly 13 days in orbit carrying an array of microgravity research experiments, including a groundbreaking investigation that showed mammal embryos can develop in space, Chinese state media reported.<\/p>\n

The Shijian 10 re-entry module landed in the Siziwang Banner of Inner Mongolia at about 0830 GMT (4:30 a.m. EDT; 4:30 p.m. Beijing time) Monday, according to China\u2019s state-run Xinhua news agency.<\/span><\/p>\n

Protected by a heat shield, the landing section re-entered Earth\u2019s atmosphere after separating from the Shijian 10 spacecraft\u2019s orbital module, which remained in space to conduct further experiments.<\/p>\n

The mission, also called SJ-10, carried 19 experiments investigating fluid physics, combustion in space, materials science, biotechnology, and the effects of microgravity and radiation on plants and animals, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which manages the program.<\/p>\n

Some initial results from the experiments are already publicized.<\/p>\n

Researchers stowed more than 6,000 mouse embryos into a chamber the size of a microwave oven aboard Shijian 10, according to Xinhua.<\/p>\n

The official media outlet reported pictures sent back by a high-resolution camera inside the chamber showed that the embryos developed similar to the way they do on Earth.<\/p>\n

About 600 embryos put under the camera \u201cdeveloped from the two-cell stage, an early-on embryonic cleavage stage, to blastocyst, the stage where noticeable cell differentiation occurs, around 72 hours after SJ-10\u2019s launch,\u201d Xinhua reported. \u201cThe timing was largely in line with embryonic development on Earth, according to CAS (Chinese Academy of Sciences).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"This
This before-and-after look at mouse embryos flown aboard the Shijian 10 spacecraft show their development from two-cell embryos four hours before launch (left) into more complex blastocysts 80 hours after launch. Credit: China Daily<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The camera took pictures of the embryos every four hours, watching their development in a solution of nutrients to fuel their growth.<\/p>\n

Chinese researchers claimed the experiment is the first to show that mammal embryos can \u201cdevelop completely\u201d in space.<\/p>\n

The result is critical if humans ever colonize the solar system.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe human race may still have a long way to go before we can colonize the space,\u201d said Duan Enkui, professor at the Institute of Zoology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in a report published by the state-run China Daily newspaper. \u201cBut before that, we have to figure out whether it is possible for us to survive and reproduce in the outer space environment like we do on Earth.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, we finally proved that the most crucial step in our reproduction \u2013 the early embryo development \u2013 is possible in the outer space,\u201d Enkui told China Daily.<\/p>\n

Scientists will transport the embryos recovered from the Shijian 10 capsule to a Beijing laboratory for further analyses to determine how fast they developed and changes in gene and protein expression, according to China Daily.<\/p>\n

\"A
A helicopter hoists the Shijian 10 landing capsule after its return to Earth on Monday. Credit: Xinhua\/Chen Junqing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 11 experiments inside the Shijian 10 landing craft were in good condition after Monday\u2019s landing, Xinhua reported.<\/p>\n

The Shijian 10 mission is China\u2019s 24th successful recoverable satellite mission since the 1970s. Another probe was lost in a launch failure.<\/p>\n

Other investigations flown on Shijian 10 included studies of how solid materials and wiring insulation ignite and burn in microgravity, how space radiation damages DNA, and the development of silkworm embryos in microgravity, according to a mission overview released by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.<\/p>\n

One of the experiments was jointly developed by scientists in China and Europe to look at how oil is stored in natural reservoirs in Earth\u2019s crust.<\/p>\n

Six samples of crude oil, each with a volume of just one milliliter, are stowed inside sturdy titanium cylinders on the Shijian 10 satellite. They are compressed to 500 times the pressure of Earth\u2019s atmosphere at sea level, mimicking conditions where crude oil pools deep underground.<\/p>\n

The goal of the experiment is to study how temperature affects how crude oil molecules move.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chinese technicians greet the Shijian 10 landing module after its touchdown Monday in the Inner Mongolia region. Credit: Xinhua\/Chen Junqing An uncrewed spacecraft landed in China\u2019s Inner Mongolia region Monday after nearly 13 days in orbit carrying an array of microgravity research experiments, including a groundbreaking investigation that showed mammal embryos can develop in space, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[135,1779,831,389,3749],"class_list":["post-15579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-china","tag-chinese-academy-of-sciences","tag-european-space-agency","tag-microgravity","tag-shijian-10"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15579"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15579\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}