Australian and US scientists are planning to send mice into orbit around the Earth in order to study how mammals cope with low gravity on Mars.

Fifteen adult female mice will be taken to space in a spacecraft, which will be launched from Cape Canaveral in 2006. The craft would simulate the gravity of Mars -- about 38 percent of that of the Earth.

"When we basically get the mice out into earth orbit, they basically float around and feel zero gravity," Australian aerospace engineer Jason Hoogland of the University of Queensland said Tuesday.

"We simulate the gravity on Mars by spinning at just the right rate for them," he was quoted by the Australian Associated Press.

One of the greatest problems facing humans is a loss of bone density in those who carry little or no weight, said Hoogland, who is also the Australian project leader.

"We obviously can't put humans in space with a privately-led university project but mice have a lot of genetic commonality with humans and are used a lot in laboratories around the world for making extrapolations to humans."

After the five-week mission, the spacecraft will make a soft landing on the Woomera range in South Australia.

(Xinhua News Agency February 11, 2004)