A Dutch company is studying the possibilities of space birth
Spaceborn United plans to organize the conception and birth of a child in space. The head of this Dutch company, Egbert Edelbrock, is studying the possibility of natural conception and potential childbirth in the partial gravity of Mars. By the end of 2024, it is planned to begin work with mouse cells.
The Dutch company Spaceborn United is conducting a series of experiments during which conditions of artificial gravity are created. This is necessary to understand how in the future people will be able to continue the human race on other planets.
This question arose after it became clear that humanity had entered the era of space tourism, deep space exploration and settlements of people in the near future on the Moon, in low-Earth orbit and on Mars.
“If you want to have independent populations points beyond Earth, and if you really want them to be independent, you'll also have to solve the reproductive problem. Therefore, humanity must become a multi-planetary species,” company director Egbert Edelbruck told AFP news agency.
Studying the stages of procreation in space improves the understanding of reproductive biology and provides opportunities for improving assisted reproductive treatments on Earth.
Although the prospect of the first sexual encounters in space may seem utopian, the Dutchman is confident that he will witness a conception in his lifetime and the birth of an alien human.
The main obstacle is the lack of gravity, Spaceborn United primarily strives to achieve the conception of an embryo in space.
For ethical reasons, the company is working on breeding mice first before considering sending human sperm and eggs far from Earth. To make this easier, they developed a disk that mixes the cells. British company Frontier Space Technologies CEO Akil Shamsul describes it as “a space station for your cells.” The embryo will then be frozen to arrest development and also to protect it during retrieval under difficult conditions, including vibration and gravitational forces.
“The adult body can take some differences into account and adjust, but we don't want to expose a growing, more vulnerable fetus to these different variables. Therefore, the ideal environment must first be created,” notes company director Egbert Edelbroek.
A launch using mouse cells is planned for the end of next year, with the first launch, aimed at producing a human embryo, expected to take “five or six years,” according to Edelbrook.
“This is a sensitive topic. Ultimately, you expose vulnerable human cells and embryos to the dangers of space, radiation, much higher than on Earth, a different gravitational environment,” Edelbruck shares the difficulties of work and the difficulties of obtaining results.
Journalists from the German publication Bild emphasize , that the study of problems of reproduction in space is a complex topic not only from a scientific point of view, but also from an ethical point of view, so such work is usually done by private companies, and not by NASA, which is afraid to spend taxpayers’ money on such sensitive areas.
Edelbruck believes his company is the only one seeking to develop a human embryo in space, hopes that natural birth in space will one day be achieved, acknowledging that the road will be “long.”
Current developments in space tourism are also is a factor to consider: a new type of traveler may want to be the first to get pregnant in space, said an entrepreneur who is raising awareness in the sector about the risks.
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