AI robot wasn’t the only unique thing sent to space aboard yesterday’s SpaceX’s rocket launch, as astronauts will also be getting a group of mice companions that have been sent to space as part of a study.

SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station (ISS) yesterday. The rocket not only carried an AI personal assistant CIMON but also a group of other passengers - 20 laboratory mice.

The mice have been sent to space as a part of study by Northwestern University’s Center for Sleep and Circadian Biology (CSCB). Ten of the mice are expected to spend total 90 days on space, whereas the remaining 10 will spend 30 days in orbit before returning to Earth.

“Ninety days might not seem like a long time, but for a mouse, it is,” study co-lead Martha Vitaterna told Business Insider, also explaining that mice respond to the effects of being in space more quickly than humans do.

AI robot to join astronauts in space

Through this study, researchers will analyze how space affects the mice’s circadian rhythm (a biological process that occurs in 24-hour cycle), microbiome (bacteria and other microorganisms living in and on the body) and some other physiological processes too, explained Futurism.

This study is a successor of NASA’s Twins Study where astronaut Scott Kelly spent one year on ISS while his twin brother Mark stayed on Earth. The results showed that 7% of Scott’s genes’ expressions were affected.

Hence, the 20 mice sent to space have identical siblings on Earth too living inside NASA’s simulator where they will experience the same conditions as their space siblings, but on a three-day delay. Though humans and mice are biologically different, scientists hope they can provide more accurate account of space’s impact on the body and solve the unanswered questions left from the Twins Study.

Moreover, scientists believe that these mice astronauts, expected to arrive at the ISS on Monday, can also help researchers gather more information about how life will survive on Mars.