Going Where No Mice Have Gone Before

Advanced technology is allowing the use of mice in space to study bone mass loss in microgravity environments.

Basically, NASA has sent a team of rodents into space, traveling on the shuttle Discovery, to spend the next three months at the International Space Station using what it's calling a special "hotel" for housing purposes.

The goal is discovering improved prevention of osteoporosis, loss of bone mass that occurs as people age. It's also a condition that astronauts deal with in space travel, according to NASA's research summary explanation.

The mice hotel, officially called the Mice Drawer System, can support living conditions from 100 to 150 days, providing needed lighting, air circulation, water and food.

The rodents can live on their own, in individual compartments, or in groups.

The special mice hotel will lets the small rodents live and interact unlike ever before. In past missions, mice sent up to space were pretty much in lockdown on the shuttle, according to a report yesterday by Space.com writer Tariq Malik.

"This is a brand new technology for carrying rodents into space," Robinson said of the mouse enclosure, in the Space.com report.Photo courtesy of NASA/Italian Space Agency