Can I keep a pet for a half-year mission in space? 丨Young looks at the stars and chases dreams

Young looks at the stars, chasing the stars and pursuing dreams. Unconsciously, the footsteps of time have come to the door of 2023. Looking back at the more than 300 days and nights just passed, it seems like a step, each step records the development of China's aerospace. As the New Year's Day is approaching, we have prepared the 9th season of the "Young looks at the stars, chasing the stars and pursuing dreams" science popularization New Year's Eve event for our readers. Please join us for an exciting journey of chasing stars and pursuing dreams!

Reviewer: Zhao Liangyu

Associate Professor, Flight Control Department, School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Beijing Institute of Technology

Whenever we imagine life in space, we always think of scenes in science fiction, where humans in the future live in space stations full of technology, just like they do on Earth. In science fiction, humans in space not only eat and sleep just like on Earth, but can even keep cats and dogs as pets, just like they do on Earth.

Although such a fantasy is still a bit far from the current level of human technology, it is not difficult to imagine that during the long orbital operation/space voyage of space stations and spacecraft, if there is a furry companion to accompany them, it should be of great benefit to the physical and mental health of astronauts. After all, who can resist a space cat?

Source: postable.com

So, can we keep pets in the space station?

Animals that have been to space

In fact, before humans went into space, animals had already traveled to space as substitutes for humans and pioneers of space exploration.

The first animals to go into space were fruit flies . In February 1947, the United States used a captured Nazi German V2 rocket to send a group of fruit flies into space to study the effects of space radiation on genetics and immunity.

The most famous animal in space is probably the Soviet space dog Laika , who was also the first animal in the world to enter Earth orbit. On November 3, 1957, Laika was launched into space on the Sputnik 2 spacecraft. At that time, the technology to return it to Earth safely was not fully mastered, so Laika's journey was doomed to a tragic end.

Laika the Space Dog

Source: NASA

According to the plan, Laika should have eaten food containing poison and been euthanized after completing a week of orbiting the earth. However, according to some information published in 2002, Laika had died of heat stroke due to overheating of the space capsule 4 hours after takeoff. Finally, after flying around the earth for five months, Laika's body fell into the atmosphere and burned up with Sputnik 2.

The first animals to successfully return from space were two dogs , named Belka and Strelka, who were launched on the Sputnik 5 spacecraft in August 1960 and returned to Earth a day later. The spacecraft also carried rabbits, rats, mice, flies, and some plants and fungi. In the end, all the creatures on the spacecraft returned to Earth safely.

Space Dog Straka

Source: Wikipedia

In addition to the animals mentioned above, other experimental animals that have been sent into space include monkeys, chimpanzees, cats, turtles, frogs, fish, and many kinds of insects. In addition, the fossils of Coelophysis and Maiasaura have also been sent into space on the US space shuttle, making them among the few ancient creatures that have "been in space."

What's the problem with keeping pets in the space station?

So, what problems will we face when raising pets in the space station? Let's analyze it together.

First of all, animals kept as pets in the space station must not interfere with the astronauts' normal work and scientific research tasks . Therefore, animals that are prone to making noises or accidentally touching various switches in the space station are obviously inappropriate.

Secondly, the animals in the space station need to be able to adapt to the microgravity environment like the astronauts . Therefore, animals that are more sensitive and prone to stress reactions are not suitable as space pets.

Third, pets in the space station (if kept in the astronaut living area) must not cause damage to the space station itself . Therefore, space pets cannot have the habit of chewing hard objects and should not have severe hair loss.

Cats are cute, but their flying hair could cause malfunctions in the space station's instruments.

Source: pixabay

Seeing this, some friends may have already asked, can't pets meet these needs through artificial training? The answer is difficult. The space dogs we mentioned earlier have also received professional training to ensure that they can adapt to the space environment, but animals are not humans after all, and even trained animals cannot guarantee that they will not make inappropriate actions 100%.

Therefore, specially training pets such as cats and dogs to be raised by astronauts in the space station is not only too costly, but also has potential risks. So at this stage, if you want to see the most common pets on Earth such as space cats and space dogs, you may need to wait for technological development and innovation.

Are there any animals that can be kept in a space station?

It is not true to say that it is impossible to keep pets in the space station. After all, many experimental animals have been sent into space. From this perspective, it is not impossible to keep space pets. Here we will classify the more common pet animals and see if there are any suitable ones to keep in the space station.

Cats and dogs: After the above analysis, cats and dogs are obviously not suitable pets for the space station. Unless they are confined to a fixed area for a long time, but this is not good for the health of animals, so they are temporarily excluded.

Pet birds: Similar to cats and dogs, pet birds are not only prone to stress, but also have the problem of being unable to defecate at a fixed point due to their inherent physiological structure. In addition, as their feathers grow, they will also have the problem of feather dust falling off. If birds are kept in the space station, there is a high probability that bird droppings and feather dust will be flying all over the sky.

The parrot's calls and feather dust are also a problem

Source: pixabay

Pet hamsters: Small mammal pets including hamsters, guinea pigs, hedgehogs, etc. may be relatively suitable choices in the space station. They are not large in size and can be well raised in a breeding box of several dozen centimeters. In addition, in the history of space experiments, various laboratory mice can be said to be frequent visitors in space. So if you want to raise furry pets in the space station, various hamsters should be relatively suitable.

In space, hamsters may need to be kept in a closed-circulation enclosure to prevent litter debris from flying around.

Source: pixabay

Reptiles: Many reptiles, such as pet frogs, turtles, lizards, etc., can be kept in a terrarium. However, although frogs and turtles have been in space, amphibians and reptiles are not suitable because they are easily stressed. In addition, these animals need to drink water from containers, and the water in space is spherical, so there is a risk of drowning, which makes them even less suitable for being kept in a space station.

Fish: Raising fish in space may sound a little crazy, but there are actually several species of fish that have been sent to space. In 1973, a pair of killifish was sent to space, and in subsequent experiments, fish embryos, zebrafish, guppies, oyster toadfish and other fish have been sent to space for related experiments.

Zebrafish is a common ornamental fish and is also a very commonly used experimental fish.

Source: pixabay

Do the fish names above sound familiar? Yes, zebrafish and guppies are the two most common ornamental fish in the flower and bird market, so from this perspective, astronauts have actually achieved fish breeding in space! In short, from a technical point of view, it should be feasible to raise pets such as hamsters and ornamental fish in the space station, but it is probably too early to pet cats and dogs.

In less than a month, the crew of Shenzhou 15 will welcome the first Chinese New Year in space in the Tiangong space station. In the future, our astronauts will build a research base on the moon to continue to move forward for the Chinese dream of "the sea of ​​stars". Let us cheer for the development of our country's space industry while looking forward to the day when our animal friends can also accompany us to travel in space~