The growth and development of higher plants are strongly influenced by gravity, and cell walls play an important part in supporting the plant body under terrestrial gravity conditions. Therefore, physical properties of the cell wall will change greatly in the microgravity environment of space.
In this experiment, seedlings of rice and arabidosis are cultivated in microgravity aboard the SPACEHAB module. The frozen cell wall samples returned from space will be analyzed for mechanical, enzymatic, and structural changes.
The BRIC experiment consists of plant samples contained in petri dishes and support hardware. Crew members will manipulate the samples on orbit and record plant growth with video and 35-mm cameras. |
