Translife Mission Experiment Sees Mice Born at 25 RPM

The Translife Mission is a Mars Society program to determine whether mammals from Earth can live, give birth, and develop properly in Martian gravity.

Lakewood - Oct. 15, 2001
It is with great pleasure that the Mars Society announces that Minnie, the female participant in the Mars Society's Translife Mission Coriolis force experiment, has given birth of a litter of approximately 6 healthy baby mice. The birth apparently took place over the weekend, with the youngsters first observed on the morning of October 15, 2001.

The Translife Mission is a Mars Society program to determine whether mammals from Earth can live, give birth, and develop properly in Martian gravity.

This will be done by flying a capsule equipped with a life support system and a crew of mice in low Earth orbit for approximately 50 days. The capsule will spin, providing Mars-level gravity to its in habitants.

During the 50-day flight, the mice will be allowed to reproduce, and the youngsters will grow to maturity in Mars gravity, after which they will be recovered for study.

The results are fundamental to both issues of near-term human Mars mission design, as well as the long-term question of whether higher terrestrial life will ever be able to actually colonize Mars.

In order to keep the system small, however, a spin rate of 25 rpm will be required. This has raised concerns that the Coriolis forces associated with such a high spin rate would disorient the mice, making a successful experiment impossible.

To resolve these concerns, the Mars Society built a simple experiment at the Pioneer Astronautics lab in Lakewood Colorado. The experiment consists of a rotating 1 m diameter turntable spinning at 25 rpm.

This provides the mouse habitat is positioned near the edge with 0.38 g of radial acceleration. Since there is also ordinary Earth gravity present as well, the gravity the mice experience is quite different from that which they will experience on orbit. However, the Coriolis force is the same.

The experiment went into operation in late August. It was found that within a few minutes of turntable start up that the behavior of the mice was perfectly normal.

Over the past 7 weeks, the mice have lived at 25 rpm, and have been observed to eat, drink, forage, play, and construct nests. Now, apparently after an appropriate courtship, a family has been born.

It would appear that Coriolis forces will not be an obstacle to the successful operation of a compact Translife mission experiment.

Congratulations Minnie!

MARSDAILY

Translife Mission Coriolis Force Feasibility Experiment Successful

Washington - Sept. 23, 2001
An experiment conducted at Pioneer Astronautics for the Mars Society has demonstrated that the Coriolis forces that mice will be exposed to during the Translife Mission will not be excessive.

Polar Wind Turbines Could Be Used On Mars

Moffett Field - Oct. 10, 2001
Wind turbines designed to make electricity at the South Pole and in remote regions of Alaska may someday lead to similar wind machines for Mars bases, according to NASA scientists.