Effect of the state of zero gravity on active cultures of unicellular algae

摘要

The primary effects of zero gravity on the growth, development, and proliferation of algal cells, as well as cell interactions within the populations, were studied on board the orbital station Salyut-6 and Mir and the Kosmos series of biosatellites. The biological functions of gravitation are among the major problems immediately related to developing a life-support system to operate under space-flight conditions. In the context of this problem, a closed ecological system (water microcosm) was constructed and the effects of space-flight factors on the system as a whole and on the particular organisms (unicellular algae, bacteria, and fish) incorporated into this system were studied. The growth, development, and proliferation in active cultures of unicellular algae (in axenic culture or as part of an algae-bacteria-fish system) proceeded properly under zero gravity; and the space-flight factors did not affect any indices of algal productivity.