The Bion satellites (russian: Бион), also named Biocosmos, is a series of

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

(later Russian)

biosatellite 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. ...

s focused on

space medicine Space medicine is the practice of medicine on astronauts in outer space whereas astronautical hygiene is the application of science and technology to the prevention or control of exposure to the hazards that may cause astronaut ill health. Both ...

Bion space program

Bion precursor flights and Bion flights

The Soviet biosatellite program began in 1966 with

Kosmos 110 Kosmos 110 (russian: Космос 110 meaning Kosmos 110) was a Soviet spacecraft launched on 22 February 1966 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard a Voskhod rocket. It carried two dogs, Veterok and Ugolyok. Mission The launch of Kosmos 110 ...

, and resumed in 1973 with Kosmos 605. Cooperation in space ventures between the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and the United States was initiated in 1971, with the signing of the United States and

in Science and Applications Agreement (which included an agreement on space research cooperation). The Soviet Union first offered to fly U.S. experiments on a Kosmos biosatellite in 1974, only a few years after the termination (in 1969) of the U.S. biosatellite program. The offer was realized in 1975 when the first joint U.S./Soviet research were carried out on the Kosmos 782 mission. The Bion spacecraft were based on the

Zenit Zenit, meaning "zenith", may refer to: Spaceflight and rocketry * Zenit (rocket family), a Soviet family of space launch vehicles * Zenit (satellite), a type of Soviet spy satellite * Zenit sounding rocket, a Swiss rocket Sports * Zenit (sports ...

spacecraft and launches began in 1973 with primary emphasis on the problems of radiation effects on human beings. Launches in the program included

, 605,

690 __NOTOC__ Year 690 (Roman numerals, DCXC) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 690 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domi ...

782 __NOTOC__ Year 782 ( DCCLXXXII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 782 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in ...

, plus Nauka modules flown on

Zenit-2M The Zenit-2M, Zenit-2SB, Zenit-2SLB or Zenit-2FG was a Ukrainian expendable carrier rocket derived from the Zenit-3SL. It was a member of the Zenit family of rockets, which were designed by the Yuzhmash. Development The Zenit 2M was a modernis ...

reconnaissance satellite A reconnaissance satellite or intelligence satellite (commonly, although unofficially, referred to as a spy satellite) is an Earth observation satellite or communications satellite deployed for military or intelligence applications. The ...

s. of equipment could be contained in the external Nauka module. The Soviet/Russian Bion program provided U.S. investigators a platform for launching Fundamental Space Biology and biomedical experiments into space. The Bion program, which began in 1966, included a series of missions that flew biological experiments using primates, rodents, insects, cells, and plants on a biosatellite in near-earth orbit.

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

became involved in the program in 1975 and participated in 9 of the 11 Bion missions. NASA ended its participation in the program with the

Bion No.11 Bion 11 was a Russian biological research satellite that was part of the Bion programme. Scientists from France, Russia and United States conducted the experiments. Bion 11 was launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome aboard a Soyuz-U launch vehi ...

mission launched in December 1996. The collaboration resulted in the flight of more than 100 U.S. experiments, one-half of all U.S. life sciences flight experiments accomplished with non-human subjects. The missions ranged from five days (

Bion 6 Kosmos 1514 or Bion 6 (in Russian: ''Космос 1514'', ''Бион 6'') was a biomedical research mission that was launched on 14 December 1983, at 07:00:00 UTC. It was part of the Bion programme. Mission The first Soviet Union orbital ...

) (Kosmos 1514) to around 22 days (Bion 1 and Kosmos 110).

Bion-M

In 2005, the Bion program was resumed with three new satellites of the modified Bion-M type – the first flight was launched on 19 April 2013 from

Baikonur Cosmodrome The Baikonur Cosmodrome ( kk, Байқоңыр ғарыш айлағы, translit=Baiqoñyr ğaryş ailağy, ; russian: Космодром Байконур, translit=Kosmodrom Baykonur, ) is a spaceport in an area of southern Kazakhstan leased to R ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

. The first satellite of the new series Bion-M1 featured an aquarium by the

German Aerospace Center The German Aerospace Center (german: Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V., abbreviated DLR, literally ''German Center for Air- and Space-flight'') is the national center for aerospace, energy and transportation research of Germany ...

(DLR) and carried 45

mice A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

, 18

Mongolian gerbil The Mongolian gerbil or Mongolian jird (''Meriones unguiculatus'') is a small rodent belonging to the subfamily Gerbillinae. Their body size is typically , with a tail, and body weight , with adult males larger than females. The animal is us ...

s, 15

gecko Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from . Geckos ar ...

snail A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gastro ...

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

and

micro-organism A microorganism, or microbe,, ''mikros'', "small") and ''organism'' from the el, ὀργανισμός, ''organismós'', "organism"). It is usually written as a single word but is sometimes hyphenated (''micro-organism''), especially in olde ...

s into orbit for 30 days before re-entry and recovery. All the gerbils died due to a hardware failure, but condition of the rest of the experiments, including all geckos, was satisfactory. Half the mice died as was predicted. Bion-M2 is scheduled to launch in 2023 on a Soyuz 2.1a rocket to an altitude of 800 km. The orbiter will carry 75 mice and studies will focus on how they are affected at the molecular level by space radiation.

Launch history

References

External links