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#1 2005-06-22 18:45:53
- Palomar
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Re: Ant Farms en route
*Besides growing plants, why not take an http://www.unclemilton.com/products/Ant … n.html]Ant Farm along for the ride? http://www.unclemilton.com/company/faqs … structions
They don't require much care. Of course they don't last long either (up to 6 months of life depending...) but replacements could maybe be frozen for later use. If you've got artificial gravity via spin, maybe it'd work. Watching the critters doing their thing might be a welcomed past-time.
Okay, this is probably a bit "out there"...but figured I'd post it anyway. :;):
--Cindy
We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...
--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)
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#2 2005-06-22 19:14:10
- Commodore
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Re: Ant Farms en route
Cause we didn't travel 250 million miles only to have our picnic ruined by our own ants. :;):
"Yes, I was going to give this astronaut selection my best shot, I was determined when the NASA proctologist looked up my ass, he would see pipes so dazzling he would ask the nurse to get his sunglasses."
---Shuttle Astronaut Mike Mullane
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#3 2005-06-23 02:05:59
- Rxke
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Re: Ant Farms en route
You're obviously not a big fan of The Simpsons series...
All it takes is one idiot aboard (Homer) to make a flight a total disaster... 
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#4 2005-06-23 04:20:30
- Palomar
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Re: Ant Farms en route
You're obviously not a big fan of The Simpsons series...
All it takes is one idiot aboard (Homer) to make a flight a total disaster...
*No, have never seen an episode of The Simpsons.
You're suggesting ten (at most) ants (who cannot possibly reproduce) in a device they cannot get out of and which isn't easily breakable could be a hazard? I knew a couple of people in childhood who had Ant Farms; there were no untoward events, except for the ants eventually dying within the thing (to be expected). 
--Cindy
We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...
--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)
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#5 2005-06-23 05:12:15
- SpaceNut
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Re: Ant Farms en route
But then again we could be taking other species with us for us in the greenhouses like Bee's, spiders or even a small sparrow but these are many years off. How much research has been done with the way animal react to being weightless?
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#6 2005-06-23 06:06:08
- Palomar
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Re: Ant Farms en route
But then again we could be taking other species with us for us in the greenhouses like Bee's, spiders or even a small sparrow but these are many years off. How much research has been done with the way animal react to being weightless?
*Exactly. Could be part science/part recreational. Might be interesting to see how ants tunnel (and etc.) in a portion (to whatever degree...perhaps comparable to Mars gravity) the normal Earth gravity. Unless something similar to this has been done already.
Critters in space so far...haven't spiders been subjected to weightlessness on the shuttle? I'm sure I've seen an article or two pertaining to how webs are spun in weightlessness. Might Google for it. Of course snails have been taken into space.
--Cindy
We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...
--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)
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#7 2005-06-23 08:18:40
- Rxke
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Re: Ant Farms en route
Check out the ill-fated last mission of Columbia. They had ants, and they did better than on Earth!
(probably still video's online somewhere...)
(Edit) for spiders check Spacelab, they were first. lots of info.
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#8 2005-06-23 08:20:53
- clark
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Re: Ant Farms en route
I for one welcome our new insect overlords...
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#9 2005-06-23 09:31:59
- Commodore
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Re: Ant Farms en route
There needs to be much research done on many earth creatures to see how they adapt to varying degrees of gravity to learn there potental usefulness in exporting to other places. Especially livestock.
Though I'm not sure if ants are something we want to export. :;):
"Yes, I was going to give this astronaut selection my best shot, I was determined when the NASA proctologist looked up my ass, he would see pipes so dazzling he would ask the nurse to get his sunglasses."
---Shuttle Astronaut Mike Mullane
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#10 2005-06-23 09:49:27
- Rxke
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Re: Ant Farms en route
Why not? they're of immense use in an ecosystem. They clean up a lot. scavenging on pests, chewing away on carcasses, producing methane(!) aeeeraerating (sp? ) the soil, etc.
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#11 2005-06-23 10:15:04
- Fledi
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- Registered: 2003-09-14
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Re: Ant Farms en route
Yup I can watch them for hours and hours as they build out the hill while I keep sitting next to it lazily.
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