Bion (satellite)

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Bion satellite (the five rat cages can be seen in the middle of the round window in the payload module). On the right at the front end the battery module.
Artist's impression of a Bion satellite in orbit

Bion ( Russian Бион ) is the project name for a satellite program of the USSR or Russia for the investigation of biological processes in space .

Structure and Mission

The satellites, also known as Biokosmos or Biosputnik , were launched between 1973 and 1996. The first satellite launched - under the code name Kosmos 110 - is also included in this series, as it was used to test living conditions in space. However, it was mainly used to test the Vozhod spaceship . The actual satellites of the Bion series were used to research life and growth processes in plants and animals under the conditions of weightlessness . The tests were performed fully automatically on board satellites by the Zenit - reconnaissance satellites were derived.

The satellites (manufacturer designation 12KS) consisted of three sections: the cone-shaped service module , the spherical payload or re-entry module (with a diameter of about 2.2 m) and the external battery module located in the middle. The latter was also used with other satellites (e.g. Foton ). The entire spacecraft had a maximum diameter of 2.5 m and weighed about 5,400 kg, of which 625 kg was accounted for by the scientific payload. They were brought with Soyuz rockets from the Plesezk Cosmodrome (except for Cosmos 110) into an orbit about 210-400 km high with an inclination of 62.8 ° or 82.3 ° (Bion 6, 7 and 9).

As of 2008, the successor Bion-M was developed by the Progress design office. A more powerful service module will allow the satellites to reach a higher orbit (between 400 and 450 kilometers instead of the previous 200 and 300 kilometers) and thus achieve a significantly longer service life than the approximately 22 days of the Bion series. The first launch took place in April 2013, and a second is planned for 2020.

Overview of the individual satellites

Surname begin landing Remarks
Forerunner missions
Cosmos 110 February 22, 1966 March 16, 1966 Test of the Vozhod spaceship, in which the two dogs Weterok and Ugoljok were.
Bion missions
Bion 1
cosmos 605		 October 31, 1973 November 22, 1973 On board were rats, turtles, insects and mushrooms.
Bion 2
cosmos 690		 October 22, 1974 November 12, 1974 There were albino rats on board.
Bion 3
cosmos 782		 November 25, 1975 15th December 1975 The experiments and the data they collected were delivered and evaluated for the first time by an international team of researchers (mainly from France, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the USA and the USSR). This cooperation continued on the following missions. On board were Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies), Daucus carota cell cultures, bacteria and fish eggs (Fundulus heteroclitus).
Bion 4
cosmos 936		 3rd August 1977 3rd August 1977 There were 30 young Wistar rats and Drosophila on board.
Bion 5
cosmos 1129		 September 25, 1979 September 14, 1979 On board were 30 young Wistar rats in five groups as well as quail eggs and bacteria.
Bion 6
Cosmos 1514		 December 14, 1983 December 19, 1983 The two rhesus monkeys Abrek and Bion and some rats were on board.
Bion 7
cosmos 1667		 July 10, 1985 17th July 1985 The two monkeys Werni and Gordi and a large number of rats were on board.
Bion 8
Kosmos 1887		 September 29, 1987 October 12, 1987 The two monkeys Drema and Jeroscha were on board.
Bion 9
cosmos 2044		 September 15, 1989 September 29, 1989 On board were the two monkeys Shankonja and Zabiyaka as well as plants, rats, insects and fish.
Bion 10
cosmos 2229		 December 29, 1992 January 10, 1993 The two monkeys Iwascha and Kroscha were on board.
Bion 11 December 24, 1996 January 7, 1997 The two monkeys Lalik and Multik were on board.
Bion-M missions
Bion-M1 April 19, 2013
 May 19, 2013 Experiments: a closed ecosystem with Euglena gracilis , horn leaf, cichlid larvae, ramshorn snails and Mexican amphipods; Fungi and bacteria in containers on the outside of the return capsule to test whether these microorganisms can survive vacuum and re-entry into the earth's atmosphere; Vertebrates (mice, rats and geckos) to test the effects of weightlessness on skeletal structures, internal organs and the immune system; additional payloads

After landing, the Russian news agency Interfax reported that all gerbils and more than half of all mice on board did not survive the flight. The gerbils died due to a malfunction in a module. All other animals and biological experiments reached Earth unscathed and were taken to Moscow for further investigation.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gunter Krebs: Bion-M 1, 2. In: Gunter's Space Page. February 10, 2017, accessed May 22, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Полёты на специализированных КА. astronaut.ru, accessed October 20, 2009 (Russian).
  3. ↑ Bion. daviddarling.info, accessed October 20, 2009 .
  4. ^ Bion-M1. (No longer available online.) NASA, archived from the original on April 24, 2013 ; accessed on January 19, 2012 (English).
  5. ^ Günther Glatzel: Biosatellite with geckos, snails and fish in space. April 19, 2013, accessed April 20, 2013 .
  6. ^ Anatoly Zak: Preparing for landing. In: russianspaceweb.com. May 19, 2013, accessed May 19, 2013 .