How is a Worms in Space experiment conducted? │ Sending Worms to Space with Colleen Deane

So, how is a Worms in Space experiment conducted? This video in our series Worms in Space for Health on Earth explains how the Molecular Muscle Experiment sent over 35 000 worms to space to live on board the International Space Station.

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So, doing experiments in space is quite different to doing them in the lab on Earth. For example, different equipment is used on the International Space Station and scientists don't usually conduct the experiments themselves. Instead, we can sometimes have the help of the astronauts.

So, we have to prepare all of this in advance, and we do this by doing what's called pre-flight testing, and this involves several stages. So, the first stage, which is really important, is to design and build specialised equipment that will house the worms, and this has to be compatible with space flight and it has to be compatible with the International Space Station.

Like humans, worms need oxygen, they need food, they need water and a comfortable temperature. So, with these requirements in mind, experienced engineers from Kayser Italia determined that the worms could make their homes in bags full of food that allowed oxygen and carbon dioxide to pass through. These bags were designed to fit inside specialised cassettes, and these compartments are actually compatible with the incubator on board the International Space Station.

Now, the next stage is to find out whether our experiment is going to work, and this is really, really important. So, we tested this by running the full experiment on Earth before the real launch. This testing took place in Switzerland and this required us to send all of the worms that we would use on board the experiment and all of the lab equipment to the testing site.

Once we got our equipment and the worms there, our scientists had to go too, and we had to carry out the experiment there. Now, this isn't only done to test our ability to perform the worm experiment in another lab, but it also tests the logistics of sending worms and the lab equipment internationally.

Now, the final stage was to set up for the real experiment. As launch day approached, we flew to the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, and using the worms and the lab equipment that we had already sent there in advance, we were able to set up the worm experiment for the real launch. Now, what this involved was, once we were all there and in the labs, we then had to grow up the worms, and once they were grown to the stage that we wanted, we placed 35 000 worms into these specialised bags and into the cassette for travel to space.

The day before the launch, these samples were then handed over to SpaceX for loading onto the Dragon capsule. These worms were then launched to the International Space Station on the 5th of December 2018, and these were on board the SpaceX Crew Resupply Service-16. And the Dragon capsule docked onto the International Space Station 3 days later.

Once it was docked, the worms were offloaded from the Dragon and the next day they were placed inside what's called a cubic incubator for 5 days. Now, this incubator allows the worms to live in the microgravity environment at a nice comfortable temperature of 20 degrees. After this experimental period, the worms were moved into the minus 80-degree laboratory freezer for the International Space Station, which is called the MELFI. They remained there until the worms were sent back down to us on Earth.

The Dragon capsule successfully de-docked from the International Space Station on the 13th of January 2019, and it later splash-landed in the Pacific Ocean near Mexico. Now, these samples were then shipped back to us in the lab in the UK.

Currently, we are in the processes of analysing all of our samples for the Molecular Muscle Experiment. If you're interested in seeing what we find out, then please do follow us on our Twitter page as well to keep an eye out for the results.

Really? Are more worms going to space? Watch the next episode in our fascinating new series, Worms in Space for Health on Earth, to find out what's so important about the Molecular Muscle Experiment number two.

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