The third lesson of "Tiangong Classroom" - space teaching sowing the seeds of science

On the afternoon of October 12, the third lesson of Tiangong Classroom began at the China Space Station. The Shenzhou 14 flight crew astronauts Chen Dong, Liu Yang, and Cai Xuzhe brought a wonderful space science class to the majority of teenagers. This is also the first time that three astronauts from the Shenzhou XIV crew have served as "space teachers."

On October 12, the third lesson of Tiangong Classroom was held on the Chinese Space Station. The picture shows students watching the third lesson of Tiangong Classroom at the Henan Science and Technology Museum. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xu Jiayi

During the interaction between heaven and earth, three astronauts acted as "tour guides" for the Wentian Experimental Module of the China Space Station, demonstrating the capillary effect experiment in a microgravity environment and the transformation of water polo into laziness. Experiments, interesting drinking water in space, wrenches that can turn around and other phenomena, and interactive communication with ground classes.

Space teaching allows young people to perceive the mysteries of the universe, experience the joy of exploration, and inspire their enthusiasm and yearning for space and scientific research.

The Wentian Capsule has become a new "Space Classroom"

Engineering Payload Operations Management Center. This is the core hub of scientific experiments on my country's space station, and is called the "big housekeeper" of space experiments of China's space station. Scientists remotely manage scientific experiment projects on the space station 400 kilometers away here every day.

?Space teacher? is here! The three astronauts swam into the space capsule one after another like fish, and began to lead everyone to experience the magical microgravity environment of space.

Different from the previous two "Tiangong Classrooms", this space class was held in the brand-new "Space Classroom Wentian Experimental Cabin". Cai Xuzhe acted as the cameraman, and Chen Dong and Liu Yang introduced the scientific experiment cabinets in the Wentian experimental cabin one by one.

?This experimental cabinet consists of two parts, with a scientific glove box on top. We're going to do a plant sample collection operation here in a moment. Chen Dong introduced that the scientific glove box is a general basic scientific experiment facility that provides a closed and clean operating space for scientific experiments, making scientific experiments more convenient and controllable.

The life ecology experiment cabinet is like a "space hotel" for animals and plants, used to explore the effects of microgravity and radiation in space on the growth, development and aging of individual organisms. ?The results of this experimental cabinet will help us achieve long-term living on the moon and even Mars in the future. ?Liu Yang said.

The biotechnology experiment cabinet is equivalent to a small biological laboratory in space. Chen Dong introduced that the most powerful thing about it is that the fully automated astronaut only needs to load the experimental unit into the experimental module and start the experiment. , you can carry out experiments such as cell proliferation and differentiation, and observe the change process of cell samples in real time like watching a movie.

The design of scientific experiment cabinets embodies a lot of wisdom and efforts of scientists and engineers. Each experiment cabinet can be regarded as a comprehensive laboratory. As the first scientific experiment module of my country’s space station, the Wentian Experiment Module is equivalent to moving the laboratory into space.

Doing experiments and collecting plant samples in space

The space experiment has begun.

In the capillary effect experiment demonstrated by Chen Dong, without the constraints of gravity, the liquid level in the thin tube continued to rise, much faster than the same demonstration on the ground; in the interesting drinking water demonstration in space, Liu Yang successfully drank the drink from the bag with a 2-meter-long straw?

Each of the wonderful experiments showed the specialness of the space environment, allowing students to have an intuitive feeling about the microgravity environment in space.

?I have grown lettuce in Tiangong 2, and recently tasted the lettuce grown by Cai Xuzhe himself. ?Chen Dong worked with his own hands to collect samples of Arabidopsis thaliana and freeze it in its growth state in space.

Before the experiment, Arabidopsis thaliana had been placed in the scientific glove box by Chen Dong. Open the Arabidopsis thaliana growth box, and plant Arabidopsis thaliana at different flowering stages controlled by genetic regulation in each planting hole. Arabidopsis flowers that have bloomed are white and very small.

Then, Chen Dong put the cut Arabidopsis into a cryogenic tube. Chen Dong said that after all samples are collected, they will be placed in a low-temperature storage area of ??minus 80 degrees Celsius. When returned to Earth, these samples will be handed over to scientists for study.

During the experiment, Chen Dong wore mixed reality glasses. With the help of these glasses, he can complete his work more easily and efficiently. Students in the ground classroom can also use Chen Dong's perspective to better observe the experiment.

Liu Yang showed the rice in the life ecology experimental cabinet. After more than 70 days of growth, the rice has transformed from a full seed into a rice plant. However, they look unsteady. This is mainly because the stimulation of gravity has been lost, and the growth direction of rice has become chaotic.

? We are very much looking forward to the fact that we can harvest the rice we grow on the space station in the future. Perhaps, in the future, Academician Yuan Longping’s dream of enjoying the cool air under the grass can also be realized on the moon and Mars. ?This is the only wish of the astronauts.

Interaction between heaven and earth is full of fun

During the question-and-answer session of Tiangong Classroom, students in the ground class asked many interesting questions, and the three astronauts on the Chinese space station answered them one by one.

The first is "class Q&A". The students raised several questions related to this space lecture.

?The life ecology experiment cabinet is like a space hotel for animals and plants. What kind of animals and plants will live in the space hotel in the future? ?

In addition to Arabidopsis and rice, animals and plants such as zebrafish and nematodes can also be cultured in the life ecology experimental cabinet to observe whether they are accustomed to living in space. ?

?There is no up, down, left, right, and no gravity in space. Why can the roots of rice still penetrate down into the soil? ?

?There is no gravity guidance in the space station, and most of the roots of plants will penetrate into the soil. This is because plants are not only gravitropic but also hydrotropic. ?

Will you feel bumps in the space station? ?How many colors are there in the earth seen in the universe? ?The students showed their curiosity about space and aerospace.

?There is no influence of gravity and airflow in space, and there are many devices in the space station to ensure stable operation, so our space home is very stable and there is no feeling of bumps. ?

?The space station orbits the Earth in about 90 minutes, so from our perspective, the color of the Earth is not static. When the earth is illuminated by the sun, the blue ocean and the yellow and green land are clearly visible. When the sun is not shining, the lights of the city decorate the earth.

The space lecture passed quickly in the interaction between heaven and earth, and the lecture was coming to an end.

? Soon after, our Mengtian experimental module will be launched into orbit, and by then we will witness the historic moment when the Chinese space station is fully completed. We very much look forward to our students building our space home better in the future! ?The three astronauts bid farewell to their classmates in front of the camera.