JSC (AV) - Skylab 4 - ED 61/62 Plant Growth, Plant Phototropism - TV 68 Part 2

Description

FR #A229 SKYLAB 4 KINESCOPE TAPE 11, Part 3 of 3 and what we're trying to do here is grow some rice seeds in agar. Now I'll try to give you best closeup I can the difficulty that we encounter with agar is that it's not transparent, it's only transparent translucent, so to get enough light in one of the side ports to off the seeds and come back to the camera is a bit of a trick, but I think we might be able to at least let you see what the nature of the growth is. In compartment 4 here, this center seed is the one which has sprouted the most. There are white roots coming out from the righthand side of your screen, which is the side away from the light. The roots in general do not show any preference for moving towards or away from the light. As far as stems, I have not noticed anything which resembles green growth which would be characteristic of a non-root growth. It all appears to be root. Now we'll take a look at 2 - unfortunately we did not get seeds on that one, which has seeds in 4 and in 6, which is not a great deal of growth, but some. The center seed in 6 is the one which has growth the most, and that is very similar to the growth in compartment 4. Now compartment 4 received the most light continuously, then 6 and then 8. Eight has veyr little growth. There are some very small roots coming off the rice seeds, but no where near the rice seeds we have seen in the other two compart- ments. Now on the other side, let's flip it over - the numbers will be upside- down here, however, we need to do that in order to get the proper light We're looking at compartment 1, which has received the most light during the growth period of around 4 days here, let's see if I can get it in focus and the proper lighting, too - so far, the question of will the plant respond to more light, what is its threshold for growth still unanswered because Compartments 2 and 4 had the most, the ones which you see the medium amount of light, the ones that you see the maximum and minimum, and that responded is very small and I can get the front of the compartment in focus, but as that's done, the seeds become out of focus. Okay, let me go back here. Let me get you the real Compartment 1. There it is. Afraid I had you on the (garble). Unfortunately, there is no label. We have a problem there with the clear tape which was put over the glass, the protector, got some wrinkles in it, reflects the light and completely overwhelms what you're doing okay, Now. Compartment 3. There we do have some growth and in that center seed, and I think that's in focus. Now, Compartment 5, very small amount of growth there and last, Compartment 7. I can't try to give you the Page 2 front view of these compartments - the problem being that the front is a little bit smaller and we don't have enough light coming in the side, but we'll give you a different look at the geometry of the growth Okay, as you see, it's tough to give you a good picture here ones on the side. Let me giveyou a better one once again. Those are in Compartments 4 and 6. This is 4...and 6. Okay, we'll keep you posted. The question of threshold of light recorded and the question of whether we were able ...which way will the seed really orient itself, it's root and leaf, and at this time, they still appear to be unanswered.

Collection

Records of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Series

Moving Images Relating to Documentary Stock Footage