• An animal’s habitat consists of the natural environment in which it lives.

• In order to take animals into space we must artificially provide the animal with everything it needs to survive.

• This closed environment becomes an artificial habitat.

• The four major components of a habitat are:– Food– Water– Shelter– Space

• In space we also need to provide things that are taken for granted on Earth like air!

• Generally the simpler the form of life the easier it is to keep in space.

• There is significant engineering involved in designing animal habitats for space.

• They must provide everything the animal requires while being kept to a minimum size and weight.

• All of the animals that have flown on the Space Shuttle have been housed in the middeck area or in a laboratory module fitted into the cargo bay.

Space Shuttle Middeck

• Within the middeck there are 42 lockers that can be used to carry experimental payloads

• When rodents are launched on the Space Shuttle one to three of these lockers are reconfigured with Animal Enclosure Modules (AEMs)

• Imagine you are designing a habitat to carry 5 adult rats into space aboard the Space Shuttle.

• The habitat must fit within a middeck locker the size of which is shown, measurements are in inches (1 inch = 2.54 cm)

• As a class brainstorm what the rats will need to survive in the closed environment of their habitat inside the locker.

• Keep in mind they are in microgravity, what does that mean for how the rats move around, what about food and water?

• In groups of 4 or 5 come up with a quick habitat design for the rats

• Highlight the major points and show roughly how it will all fit into such a small space.

• Following this we will look at NASA’s actual Animal Enclosure Module and you can see if you missed anything.

• The AEM is used for studying the influence of microgravity on rodents.

• It can carry 5 adult rats or 8 adult mice and has flown on 23 Space Shuttle missions.

• The AEM is a self-contained habitat providing its occupants with living space, food, water, ventilation and lighting.

• The unit has a waste management system designed to keep the animals separate from their waste and to prevent these by products and food crumbs from escaping into the Space Shuttle environment.

• The module itself is composed of a stainless steel grid cage module.

• As the rats will be in microgravity they will be floating around just like the astronauts on board, the wire mesh gives them something to grip onto.

• The AEM remains in the storage locker during take off and landing

• During a mission the AEM can be removed from the locker and the astronauts can observe or photograph the animals through a clear cover.

• Cabin air is exchanged with the AEM through a filter system.

• Four fans cause air to suck waste products into a collection filter.

• Special filters prevent any microbiological escape into the cabin atmosphere.

• Treated charcoal within the unit confines animal odours within the closed system so that astronauts don’t have to put up with rat smell!

• Woodchip bedding like used in rat cages on Earth is no good in microgravity.

• Four internal lamps provide lighting that runs on a 12 hour day night cycle.

• Standard gravity feed water bottles don’t work in space so water is provided through pressurised water containers which the astronauts can refill during the mission.

• Dry food in a bowl is no good either, instead special compressed rodent food bars molded into a rectangular shape are placed in plates inside the cage.

• The AEM is 24.50 x 43.69 x 51.05 cm and weighs approximately 27.2 kg (with food, water, and animals).

• It requires 35.5 Watts of power from the Space Shuttle, less than a normal light bulb!

• The temperature of the AEM is not controlled but is dependent on the temperature of the middeck.

• More complicated habitats exist such as the Research Animal Holding Facility carried in the SpaceLab module in the cargo bay of the Shuttle.

• The RAHF can carry up to 24 rats or four squirrel monkeys.

• Unlike the AEM the animals can be removed from the RAHF and handled for tissue or fluid sampling or administration of treatment.

• The Space Station Biological Research Program is the main life sciences research to be undertaken on the ISS.

• Currently there are plans to build habitats for rodents, fish, quail, fruit flies as well as facilities for growing plants.

• There have been a wide variety of animals sent into space and every animal requires slightly different conditions.

• The challenge with keeping animals in space is to provide them with a comfortable artificial habitat to undertake study.

• Current animal research in space is restricted to taking animals up in the Space Shuttle and ISS for relatively short stays.

• Future plans involve breeding animals in space to look at the effect of microgravity over multiple generations.

• Even further into the future may be the possibility of creating complete artificial eco-systems, particularly to aid life support and provide food for long duration stays by humans in space.

• What are some of the challenges you can think of with this ambitious idea?

• How could we overcome them?