OFO (Orbiting Frog Otolith)
A curiously-named mission, undertaken by NASA's Office of Advanced Research
and Technology, to study the effects of weightlessness on and the response
to acceleration of that part of the inner ear which controls balance. The
Frog Otolith Experiment (FOE) was developed by Torquato Gualtierotti of
the University of Milan, Italy, when he was assigned so the Ames Research
Center as a resident Research Associate sponsored by the National Academy
of Sciences. The subjects of the experiment were two bullfrogs – animals
that surprisingly have a similar inner ear structure to that of humans –
which were placed in a water-filled centrifuge with microelectrodes surgically
implanted in their vestibular nerves. The experimental package was designed
for flight as part of the Apollo
Applications Program; however, when an early Apollo flight on which OFO
was intended to be flown was delayed, the OFO was equipped for flight instead
on an unmanned spacecraft.
| launch date |
Nov. 9, 1970 |
| launch vehicle |
Scout B |
| launch site |
Wallops Island |
| orbit |
304 × 518 km × 37.4° |
| mass |
133 kg |
Related categories
• SATELLITES
AND SPACE PROBES
• SPACE
AND AEROSPACE MEDICINE
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