AÑO
2021
CATEGORÍA
Comunidad
OBJETIVOS
Ciudades y comunidades sostenibles, Vida de ecosistemas terrestres
PAL. CLAVE
bees, outer space, biodesign, Biology, design for space
PAÍS
United States of America
CRÉDITOS
Mediated Matter Group
LINK
https://mediatedmattergroup.com/maiden-flight
Maiden Flight
Extraterrestrial flight of the queen honeybee
Maiden Flight is an autonomous biological laboratory environment designed for studying the impact of space flight on the sole reproductive node of a bee colony: the queen bee and her retinue.
A mated queen bee embodies both the female and male germline (sperm, eggs) for an entire honeybee hive. On Earth, the presence of honeybee colonies is key to the survival of a broad network of plant and animal species, including humans.
In space, the exploration of the honeybee germline in extreme environments contributes to the understanding of important future challenges ranging from off-planet pollination to cooperative biological fabrication and material-cycling. Here, The Mediated Matter Group examines new relationships between biological and architectural processes of metabolism, embodied by the design of synthetic astro-ecologies to support and study the extraterrestrial flight of the queen honeybee.