Humans have already sent a variety of animals into space including dogs and monkeys. These days however, it seems scientists have just sent up almost a thousand ants to space.
Around 800 ants have been sent to the International Space Station (ISS) in an attempt to study their foraging behavior in low gravity conditions. The scientists involved in the project are hoping that the way ants behave in space may hold clues to coming up with more effective robot designs. The ants arrived on the ISS on Jan. 12.
Ants are some of the most adaptable and prolific organisms and the planet. In fact, ants are so numerous that it is believed that they are responsible for around 12 to 20 percent of the total animal biomass on Earth. These figures are significantly higher compared to the combined biomass of all vertebrates currently alive. The ants sent up to space are all members of Tetramorium causptitum, one of the most common species of ants. These ants, also known as pavement ants can be found almost everywhere and their foraging habits may bring about novel designs in robotics.
Due to the organization of ant colonies, scientists are hoping to improve the distributed algorithms they use to control robots. Scientists have long been experimenting with robots that act as a swarm moving as one with not direct control mechanism. In this case, scientists are hoping to design new algorithms based on how ants move when foraging for food.
The ants will be spending their time in 8 separate containers. Each container has a number of barriers that can be taken up or down to increase or decrease the available space for foraging. Some of the barriers have already been taken down to observe how ants move to and from areas with a high concentration of ants to areas with a lesser number of ants.
Scientists onboard the ISS have observed that ants in low-density areas move around in straight lines. This allows individual ants to cover larger areas when foraging. In high-density environments however, the ants exhibited a more circular walking pattern.
Aside from the scientists onboard watching over the ants, video footage of the colonies are also being streamed back to Earth. This means that school children on the ground can also participate in the experiment.
There are numerous possible applications for robots programmed to move like ants. These robots can be used in search and rescue missions or even exploration missions on other planets.
