Produced by: Tarun Mishra Designed by: Manoj Kumar
Four zebrafish aboard China's Tiangong space station are reported to be thriving, following their arrival on April 26 with the Shenzhou 18 spacecraft.
The fish are housed in a tank that forms a miniaturized ecosystem, utilizing a plant called hornwort for photosynthesis to support their life in orbit.
Scientists designed the experiment to examine how the microgravity environment affects zebrafish growth and the balance of the ecosystem, with the fish previously displaying unusual behaviours.
Researchers are hopeful that the zebrafish will lay eggs during the mission. This would allow astronauts to observe the development of the transparent embryos outside the uterus.
While this project represents China's first aquatic ecological research in space, it is not the first instance of breeding fish in orbit. Medaka fish were mated during a 1994 space shuttle mission.
Li Guangsu, one of the astronauts, noted that the mission involves over 90 experiments and tests, all of which are progressing well, marking a significant step in space biology.
The experiment is a collaboration between the Institute of Hydrobiology and the Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, both part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
As the Shenzhou 18 astronauts near the end of their six-month mission, they may return to Earth soon. The schedule for the Shenzhou 19 mission and the exact return date for Shenzhou 18 has yet to be announced.