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UK Sends Clover And Rocks Into Space

You might want to skip over the biology experiment mentioned here, and look at
the information on the Flying Stones experiment.

Ron Baalke
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Royal Astronomical Society Press Notice

Date: 23 September 1999
For Immediate Release

Ref. PN 99/30

Issued by:

Peter Bond,
RAS Press Officer (Space Science).
10 Harrier Close,
Cranleigh,
Surrey, GU6 7BS,
United Kingdom.
Phone: +44 (0)1483-268672
Fax: +44 (0)1483-274047
E-mail: 100604.1111@compuserve.com
RAS Web site: http://www.ras.org.uk/ras/

FURTHER CONTACT DETAILS ARE LISTED AT THE END

UK SENDS CLOVER AND ROCKS INTO SPACE.

European and UK scientists are eagerly waiting to retrieve their experiments
when the unmanned Russian Foton spacecraft parachutes onto the open steppes
of Kazakhstan after 16 days in orbit. On board are 240 kg of experiments
provided by the European Space Agency and its member states. They include
two innovative and unusual experiments from UK institutes.

One of the experiments carried inside the spacecraft comes from a group of
scientists in the School of Biological Sciences at Nottingham University.
The experiment, named SYMBIO, is investigating the interaction between the
soil bacterium, Rhizobium, and 28 clover seedlings.

Rhizobium normally induces and inhabits nodules on the roots of leguminous
plants, such as peas, beans and clover, where the bacteria extract nitrogen
from the air and convert or "fix" it. The plant can then utilise the
nitrogen to produce important compounds, such as amino acids and proteins.
In this way, Rhizobium and legumes rely on each other, forming what
biologists call a symbiotic relationship -- hence the name of the Nottingham
experiment.

The seedlings used in the SYMBIO experiment have been placed in individual
tubes placed inside two foam-packed containers about the size of shoe-boxes.
Each tube contains a nutrient-rich gel known as agar. As the roots of the
seedlings grow through this substrate, they come into contact with the
Rhizobium, which initiates the nitrogen-fixing symbiotic association.
Although the temperature of the plants is regulated so that it stays between
20C and 29C, no light source is provided for the short period in orbit.

When the SYMBIO experiment returns to Earth, Nottingham scientists will
study the changes caused by microgravity in the structure of the seedlings
and the way in which the bacteria have colonised their roots. Since fluids
do not circulate in microgravity, it is possible that the bacteria are able
to stay in contact longer with the roots, so aiding nodule development.

"Our experiment is investigating how the bacteria responsible for fixing
nitrogen in plant roots react to the lack of gravity in orbit," said team
leader Dr Greg Briarty. "This will help us to understand more about the
way in which Rhizobium interacts with plant roots and enables leguminous
plants to grow in poor, nitrogen-deficient soils."

In the longer term, the experiment may also assist humankind to travel
for many years through deep space. "Such information is essential for the
development of life-support systems for long-term space flight," said Dr
Briarty, who has previously flown plant-based experiments on the IML-1
space shuttle mission in 1992, and as part of the NASA-5 Greenhouse
Experiment on the Mir Space Station.

The second experiment with UK involvement, known as FLYING STONES, is
located in a much more hostile environment outside the Foton capsule. The
satellite's heat shield, which prevents it from burning up on atmospheric
re-entry, has been modified to carry and expose three types of rock.

The experiment is part of an ongoing investigation at the Open University
and other European research centres into the possibility of life on Mars.
One of the most intriguing scenarios being studied is the transfer of rocks
across millions of miles of space from Mars to Earth.

To date, only 14 Martian meteorites have been found on Earth, even though
calculations indicate that at least 100 tons of Mars material should be
landing on our planet every year. In an effort to improve identification of
such important specimens, several types of rock which might be found on
the planet Mars have been placed on the Foton spacecraft's exterior.

One is a fine-grained basalt (a type of lava) thought to be similar to
"Barnacle Bill", a rock examined by the Sojourner rover on NASA's 1997
Mars Pathfinder mission. The others are a dolomite, a form of limestone
found in northern Italy, and a simulated clod of Martian soil held together
with gypsum.

When Foton-12 returns to Earth later this week, the samples will be exposed
to extreme heating, just like incoming Martian meteorites. By studying the
ways in which these rocks are modified by the scorching temperatures,
scientists hope to gain valuable information which will aid identification
and recovery of the all-important missing Martian meteorites from favoured
collecting sites such as the Antarctic ice sheet.

Background

The Foton-12 spacecraft was launched by a Russian Soyuz-U rocket from
Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia on 9 September and inserted into a
low Earth orbit with an altitude of 200-400 km. It is expected to return to
Earth on 24 September.

Foton-12 carries an international cargo of experiments from many European
countries, including the UK, Germany, France and Sweden. The Foton satellite
is designed to carry out experiments under microgravity conditions and
return them to Earth after about two weeks. At the end of the mission, the
spherical capsule will re-enters the Earth's atmosphere, deploy a parachute,
and eventually touch down in Kazakhstan.