SCIENTISTS are sending tens of thousands of worms into space to help a study into muscle loss in older people.

The tiny transparent worms will be heading to the International Space Station as part of a Government-backed project to see if two drugs can prevent or slow down muscle wasting brought on by microgravity.

Worms are being used because they have a similar muscle structure to humans.

They suffer from muscle loss in many of the same conditions that humans do.

In space, the 1mm long c-elegans worms will have nothing to push against to keep their muscle mass and so quickly start losing strength.

This mirrors the impact experienced by the elderly on Earth and those with conditions like muscular dystrophy and diabetes.

Experts at Nottingham University are hoping that by either boosting the cell batteries or improving their uptake of calcium will mean they can slow down the process or even prevent it entirely.

Dr Bethan Phillips, assistant professor at the university, said: "We know that microgravity accelerates the effects of muscle disuse similar to when elderly people are bedbound or are recovering from an injury.

"Skeletal muscle is linked to many systems in the body, such as the immune system, so the health implications are not just loss of movement, they are far more widespread.

"The worms have similar muscle to human skeletal muscle so we can see if these pharmaceuticals have a beneficial effect which could eventually lead to new treatments both for astronauts and the elderly."

Not only do these experiments offer hope for the elderly on Earth but they will be vital to the success of future colonies on the Moon or Mars.

Astronauts can lose up to 40 per cent of muscle mass on a lengthy mission and 1.5 per cent of their bone mass for each month spent in space.

Tim Peake was missing nearly 10 per cent of his bone volume by the time he touched down from his trip aboard the ISS.

The experiment is one of several being funded by the UK Space Agency, which has provided nearly £3million ahead of the 20th anniversary of the International Space Station on Tuesday.

The government says tackling ageing is one of its "grand challenges" and it wants to add five extra health years of life by 2035.

A team from Liverpool will also be sending tubes of human muscles grown from stem cells to the ISS to see if "heat shock" proteins could stop the inevitable decline of muscles.

In the cells of older people muscles fail to get stronger even when they exercise, which researchers believe could be because of inflammation in the body.

Researchers believe the "heat shock" proteins may help dampen down the impact.

Professor Malcolm Jackson, from the University of Liverpool, said: "Ageing is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century and so the opportunity to use micro gravity to help understand the mechanisms underlying age-related muscle loss is really exciting.

"There is some evidence that inflammation is behind the problems with ageing muscle and if we can find a way to stop that inflammatory response it could be beneficial.

"Sending cells into microgravity allows us to look at muscle ageing response in isolation without the other effects of ageing complicating the pictures."

The University of Strathclyde in Glasgow will also receive nearly £1.3 million to investigate how shaking a liquid in microgravity includes solid particles to accumulate and from highly ordered aggregates, instead of causing the floating particles to simply disperse.

Science Minister Sam Gyimah said: "This research will help those with muscle conditions to live longer, healthier, happier lives and is a great example of our modern industrial strategy in action - transforming life on earth through out-of-this-world research."