CRI听力:Silkworm astronauts "dance" in space

Two Chinese astronauts are now aboard the Tiangong-2 in space, along with 6 silkworms.

The silkworms are making headlines in China, as the three-time space traveller Jing Haipeng had a bit of "dance" with it on the spacecraft.

Xinhua released footage from the space lab on Thursday showing a silkworm floating in the zero-gravity environment after Jing Haipeng took it out of its specially tailored box.

Tied to Jing Haipeng's figure with only a piece of silk thread, the silkworm wiggled to try to stay on his finger.
Although it failed, many times.

The silkworms are part of an experiment by a group of middle school students in Hong Kong and will stay with the astronauts for the coming month.

After returning to earth, students will compare their growth and development to those of the silkworms living on the earth the whole time.

It is one of the three experiments designed by Hong Kong middle school students.

What experiments will the astronauts do?

The astronauts will work on the cultivation of higher plants, a cold atom space clock and the distribution of a quantum key between earth and space.

Over ten experiments will be conducted by the astronauts.

Cultivating crops in a microgravity environment is a key experiment and the lab will look at how to cultivate such crops as rice and Arabidopsis.

The cold atom space clock will potentially improve the accuracy of navigation and positioning systems. This clock is expected to be very accurate with an error rate of only 1 second off in 30 million years.

In addition the lab has several remote observatory sensors and instruments. These devices will collect information that will aid earth sciences and research in areas of resources and environment.