Is it possible to reproduce in space

Human reproduction will be possible on Mars because sperm can survive there for up to years, a study suggests. The findings were part of a six-year experiment in which scientists kept mouse sperm on the International Space Station and exposed it to radiation. As The Daily Mail reports , researchers had believed radiation in space would destroy human DNA and make breeding impossible. Cancer caused by the radiation was another concern.

But after six years, scientists found that the mouse sperm stored on the space station was still healthy. These discoveries are essential for mankind to progress into the space age. Mars exploration has ramped up this year, as NASA's Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter continue to look for signs of life on the planet. Ingenuity, which is carried inside Perseverance's belly, recently completed its seventh flight on Mars.

As reported by Insider's Kate Duffy, Perseverance is due to travel three miles across Mars over the next few months. For you. Polyethylene plastics are relatively light and effective for blocking space radiation.

Unfortunately, they are not very strong. Astronautical engineers in Italy are experimenting with adding carbon or graphene nanomaterials to polyethylene to see if they can make it stronger while preserving its radiation-blocking properties.

Research teams in Europe and Japan are investigating different types of lithium-containing materials, with promising early results. So far, however, these designs have been deemed too heavy to scale up for space travel. Shielding on other planets, such as Mars, may be slightly easier. Materials that are less efficient at radiation shielding can still be useful—they just need to be a lot thicker to achieve the proper protection.

If we use materials that are already available on Mars, we could use as much as we wanted without worrying about how much fuel it would take to transport them from Earth.

Scientists are also working on ways to provide artificial gravity using rotational forces. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has developed an artificial gravity system for mice, which seems to ameliorate at least some of the negative effects of spaceflight. But scaling this system up from a mouse-sized enclosure to an entire space station presents several engineering challenges, from the complicated problem of how to dock a ship with a rapidly rotating space station to the issue of motion sickness.

However, recent research from scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder suggests that starting with slow rotations and letting people acclimate over several weeks can reduce motion sickness. But would this device be safe for a developing fetus? We have no idea: To date, there are no data regarding the effects of these artificial gravity generators for embryonic or fetal development. Others are working on pharmacological options to help protect astronauts and perhaps one day their developing offspring from the dangers of space travel.

Reactive oxygen species are a type of unstable molecule that can damage our DNA. A recent study by researchers at the Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine found that using pharmaceuticals to block certain signaling proteins in mice not only prevented the loss of bone and muscle mass that usually takes place in microgravity but actually increased their density. Perhaps some in utero treatment based on a cocktail of such proteins could help a space fetus grow bones and muscles in microgravity, although much more research is needed before this could be determined.

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin Madison are blasting bacteria with high doses of ionizing radiation to watch them evolve radiation resistance in real time and study which genes are involved. But Solomon says that knowing which genes confer protection is only the first step. Maybe we need to get even more creative and think outside the womb, so to speak. Scientists are already working on creating bioengineered ovaries as well as artificial sperm and eggs from other cells in our bodies.

Perhaps these artificial gametes could then be implanted in an artificial womb with an artificial placenta. This could also protect female astronauts from the dangers of pregnancy —morning sickness, gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, and more—as well as reduce the risks associated with childbirth in space. Long-term human habitation in space or on other planets might eventually turn us into multiple human species.

But none of this is possible quite yet. Wotring, Solomon, and Luderer agree that we have barely scratched the surface of understanding how living in space or on other planets would affect human reproduction and development. However, if we do manage to figure out extraterrestrial reproduction, this will have major implications for the future of our species. Genetic and physiological changes—precipitated by genetic engineering, adaptation to the conditions of space, or to the measures that we took to survive off Earth—will likely occur.

For example, one way to address the difficulty of delivering a baby in space would be to deliver them via Cesarean section, but if all extraterrestrial births had to take place by Cesarean section for the safety of the mother, this changes the evolutionary pressures on human head size, says Solomon.

For all of human history, the size of our heads and therefore the size of our brains at birth has been limited by the need for the head to be able to squeeze through the birth canal. So, you could then imagine on Mars, if people chose [to have Cesarean sections], that heads could become larger and larger in future generations. Houston, We Have a Baby. Share Share on Twitter Share on Facebook. Subscribe to our Newsletter Weekly updates from the frontlines of neuroscience, genetics, longevity, synthetic biology, the future of food, and more.

Valentina Tereshkova of Russia was the first woman in space in She also gave birth to a baby girl only a year after returning from spaceflight. In the United States, women are harassed and even arrested for leaving their kids unattended, shamed for apparently putting young children in danger. Space is far more dangerous than the sidewalk outside a store. Even if SpaceLife Origin finds a willing participant—and Edelbroek stresses that she will be calling the shots—would it be ethical for the company to send her?

Astronauts usually experience three times the force of gravity during the ascent to orbit. In the case of a botched launch and emergency landing, that force triples.

Experiments on reproduction have been conducted in space, but they have been limited to mice, fish, lizards, and invertebrates. In the s, pregnant rats gave birth after a week on a U. Each rat pup was born with an underdeveloped vestibular system, the inner-ear structure that allows mammals to balance and orient themselves.

As scientists suspected, the absence of gravity had thrown the pups off-kilter. Imagine childbirth without it. Bodily fluids would clump into blobs and glide through the capsule. After the delivery is over, mom and baby would have to survive the descent back to Earth.

For current astronauts, that involves a bone-rattling free fall through the atmosphere, followed by a parachute landing in the Kazakh desert.