A bio satellite is an
artificial satellite designed to carry plants or animals in
outer space. They are used to research the effects of space (cosmic radiation, weightlessness, etc.) on biological matter while in orbit around a
celestial body
An astronomical object, celestial object, stellar object or heavenly body is a naturally occurring physical entity, association, or structure that exists within the observable universe. In astronomy, the terms ''object'' and ''body'' are of ...
. The first satellite carrying an animal (a dog, "
Laika
Laika ( ; , ; – 3 November 1957) was a Soviet space dog who was one of the first animals in space and the first to orbit the Earth. A stray mongrel from the streets of Moscow, she flew aboard the Sputnik 2 spacecraft, launched into lo ...
") was
Soviet
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
Sputnik 2
Sputnik 2 (, , ''Satellite 2'', or Prosteyshiy Sputnik 2 (PS-2, , ''Simplest Satellite 2'', launched on 3 November 1957, was the second spacecraft launched into Earth orbit, and the first to carry an animal into orbit, a Soviet space dog named ...
on November 3, 1957. On August 20, 1960 Soviet
Sputnik 5
Korabl-Sputnik 2 (), also known as Sputnik 5 in the West, was a Soviet artificial satellite, and the third test flight of the Vostok spacecraft. It was the first spaceflight to send animals into orbit and return them safely back to Earth, incl ...
launched and recovered dogs from Earth orbit.
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
launched three such satellites between 1966 and 1969 in its
Biosatellite program
NASA, NASA's Biosatellite program was a series of three Uncrewed spacecraft, uncrewed artificial satellites to assess the effects of spaceflight, especially radiation and weightlessness, on living organisms. Each was designed to reenter Earth's at ...
.
Biosatellite
''Encyclopedia Astronautica
The ''Encyclopedia Astronautica'' is a reference web site on Space exploration, space travel. The encyclopedia includes 79,433 articles with 13,741 illustrations, a comprehensive catalog of missiles, spacecraft, space technology, astronauts, an ...
''
Other notable biosatellites include:
* Bion space program of the Soviet Union
* The Mars Gravity Biosatellite
The Mars Gravity Biosatellite was a project initiated as a competition between universities in 2001 by the Mars Society. The aim was to build a spacecraft concept to study the effects of Mars-level gravity (~0.38g) on mammals.
Presentations were ...
* Orbiting Frog Otolith
The Orbiting Frog Otolith (OFO) was a NASA space program which sent two American bullfrog, bullfrogs into orbit on November 9, 1970, for the study of weightlessness. The name, derived through common use, was a functional description of the biol ...
(OFO-A)
See also
* Animals in space
Animals in space originally served to test the survivability of spaceflight, before human spaceflights were attempted. Later, many species were flown to investigate various biological processes and the effects microgravity and space flight m ...
References
External links
*
Satellites by type
Animals in space
Space research
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