Blob, a single-cell yellow mold is being sent to space, the ISS to be specific. Blob is a naturally occurring slime mold and is scientifically known as Physarum polycephalum. The ESA is sending it to the ISS so scientists aboard can observe it in microgravity.
“Composed of just one cell, the brainless blob is still able to move, feed, organize itself and even transmit knowledge to like-minded slime molds,” says the ESA, but does not expand on the kind of knowledge like-minded slime molds share.
The aim of the Blob experiment is to study the impact of microgravity on the slime’s behavior. Will the organism react in a different fashion in space? Or how microgravity and radiation affect its evolution? Blob will leave Earth on August 10 aboard Northrop Grumman’s 16th NASA commercial resupply mission.
Same experiments will take place on Earth
Once it reaches the ISS, ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet will add water to Blob in order to wake it up, and then he’ll capture its images under two scientific protocols. One will observe how two Blobs respond alongside in an environment without food. Another will study the response when food is available.
The same experiments will be conducted on Earth by primary, middle, and high school students. Then the results will be compared to a time-lapse video from space to see the difference in Blob’s shape and growth in space and Earth.
The aim is to get kids in France and other ESA members more involved in biological sciences. France’s space agency, CNES, is collaborating with the country’s national scientific research center on the experiment.
Getting kids immersed in the investigation
“Blob is a unique experience that stimulates student curiosity about themes such as the impact of the environment on organisms and the development of living organisms,” Evelyne Cortiade-Marché, head of the CNES’ education department, said in a statement.
The investigation is said to last a whole week. During that time, a four-second video of the slime mold will be recorded automatically on a microSD card every 10 minutes.
Similarly, astronauts aboard the ISS are trying to grow chili peppers in space for the first time. NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough has put 48 chili pepper seeds in the ISS’ Advanced Planet Habitat (APH). They will observe its growth in the coming months and then harvest them.
