TABLE 4.

PBR space flight experiments with algae and cyanobacteria (∼ last 30 years, only published ones, chronologically listed).

Organism	Vehicle	Hardware	Volume	Light intensity	Mode	Duration	Results	Authors
Nostoc sp. PCC7524 and a plastid mutant of Euglena gracilis	Long March 2	Dialysis bags that allow for gas exchange	3 mL per culture	0.3 W bulb	1 batch	4.5 days	Fixation of the cells was successful, some of the Nostoc cells germinated in the microgravity conditions	Dubertret et al. (1987)
Chlorella vulgaris LARG-1	Bion-9 (Cosmos, 2044)	Three-component aquatic system	Unknown	Unknown, but it was illuminated	1 batch	13 days	Microscopy revealed differences in organelle-organization between space and ground samples but there was so significant difference in growth	Popova et al. (1989)
Nostoc sphaeroides Kütz	Shenzhou-II	Closed chambers	85 mL	2,200 Lux, 12-h-dark/12-h-light cycle	1 batch	6 days 15 h	A high growth rate was observed for the space samples exposed to microgravity	Wang et al. (2004)
Anabaena siamensis FACHB 799	Chinese retrievable satellite	small bioreactor	200 mL	15 μE m–2 s–1	1 batch	15 days	Growth in space was slower, but after return, the space cultures grew at a higher rate. After a few generations, both cultures grew at the same rate	Wang et al. (2006)
Euglena gracilis with Oreochromis mossambicus (cichlid fish)	Foton M2	Cylindrical prototype with two connected bioreactors	1.45 L (E. gracilis) and 1.26 L (fish)	Via red LEDs (emission peak at 625 nm)	Continuous	15 days	The oxygen production of E. gracilis gradually decreased in the first 9 days and increased afterward. Seven of the 35 fish died	Häder et al. (2006)
Chlorella pyrenoidosa FACHB 415 and Bulinus australianus (snail)	Chinese retrievable satellite and Shenzhou-II	Culture chambers	85 mL algal culture in 120 mL chamber	35 μE m–2 s–1	1 batch	Satellite: 15 days; spacecraft: 6 days 15 h	Satellite: The algae survived but became a little lower in number, the snails died (probably from CO2 intoxication), spacecraft: the average Chlorella concentration decreased	Wang et al. (2008)
Euglena gracilis with Oreochromis mossambicus (cichlid fish)	Foton M3	Polycarbonate cylinder with adjacent compartments	Unknown	Via three pairs of high-power red LEDs	Continuous	12 days	The oxygen level in the tank decreased a little more than expected. 11 out of 26 fishes survived the flight	Strauch et al. (2008)
Euglena gracilis Z	Shenzhou-8	Double culture chamber, separated by biofoil	11 mL	500 μE m–2 s–1	1 batch	17 days, fixation after 40 min (other samples failed)	First report on microgravity-induced changes at the transcriptional level of an unicellular eukaryotic organism	Nasir et al. (2014), Preu and Braun (2014)
Limnospira indica PCC8005	ISS	Cylindrical PBR with flat membrane liquid and gaseous phase	60 mL	35 and 45 μE m–2 s–1	Batches (14, 6, 8, 6 days)	5 weeks	Generally successful, but some technical difficulties. First dynamic growth of cyanobacteria in space and the gas and biomass model was shown to be applicable	Poughon et al. (2020)