Ecological cultivation ark (ECA) project--mutation and evolution of micro-organisms in space.

Abstract

Ecological cultivation capsules (ECC), that is a materially sealed microcosm. composed of primary producers, consumers and bacteria as a decomposer were developed in order to cultivate bacteria without any artificial operation for long duration more than 10 years in space. It is planned to be left on the space station to study the process that bacteria in MIR space station had acquired their resistance to cosmic ray radiation as well as ultra-violet light. As contrasted with the space experiment, bacteria are cultivating in the ECC on the ground to trace the changes of bacteria under the simulated radiation dose in Earth orbit.