any of a series of three U.S. Earth-orbiting scientific satellites designed to study the biological effects of weightlessness (i.e., zero gravity), cosmic radiation, and the absence of the Earth's 24-hour day-night rhythm on several plants and animals ranging from a variety of microorganisms to a primate. Such space laboratories were equipped with telemetering equipment with which to monitor the condition of the specimens. Biosatellite 1 (1966) was not recovered. Biosatellite 2 (1967) was a complete success. It involved an assortment of biological experiments, including one concerned with mutations induced in the offspring of insects exposed to ionizing radiation in space. The flight of Biosatellite 3 (1969), scheduled to last 31 days, had to be cut short when the trained pigtail monkey that was aboard became ill.
BIOSATELLITE
Meaning of BIOSATELLITE in English
Britannica English vocabulary. Английский словарь Британика. 2012