The zebrafish, along with a colony of hornworts, a type of plant, were launched into orbit aboard the Shenzhou-18 spacecraft on April 25 as part of a project to create a self-sustaining ecosystem to study the effects of microgravity and radiation on the development and growth of the species.
According to a paper published last week in The Innovation, one of the world’s top-ranked multidisciplinary journals, the zebrafish transitioned through their natural life stages – from growth to development and reproduction – within 43 days, setting a record for ecological experiments in space.
“This milestone not only means progress in China’s space ecosystem technology but also provides valuable data and technical support for closed-loop ecosystems in space missions,” the authors said.
The study was jointly designed and overseen by a team of scientists from several research institutes, including the Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics and the Institute of Hydrobiology in Wuhan, both under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
