Humanity’s ambition to colonize the Moon and Mars faces one major obstacle: our ability to reproduce outside of Earth. While we’re nowhere near making babies in space yet, now may be the time to start understanding the exact risks of trying. An experiment on the Chinese space station may help provide some answers.
China activated embryo-like structures made from live human stem cells to the Tiangong space station for an experiment for the first time. The artificial embryos flew aboard the Tianzhou-10 cargo ship on May 10 and remained in low-Earth orbit for about five days to replicate the early development stage that follows fertilization.
Orbital baby making
The experiment, led by researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is designed to test the effects of a microgravity environment on early human embryonic development.
Artificial embryos include two types of models representing different stages of embryonic development. The first set of samples were cultured in uterine cells to recreate the critical stage of embryo attachment to the uterine wall. Other samples are placed inside a microfluidic chip, which mimics the point at which a single layer of cells grows into different layers, eventually forming tissues and organs.
“The human artificial embryo is made from human stem cells as raw material,” said Yu Legian, project leader of the experiment. statement. “It is not a true human embryo and is not capable of individual development. However, it can be a model for the study of early human development.”
Each embryo was kept in its own chamber in a culture container. Embryos were allowed to develop for five days before being frozen. The samples will then be returned to Earth for analysis. At the same time, on Earth, the same samples were also studied inside the laboratory to compare how space embryos behave in the microgravity environment.
“We hope that by comparing the development of space and ground samples, we can identify the factors that influence early human embryonic growth in the space environment and address the risks and problems that humans may face during long-term space living,” Yu said.
Human colonies
The period of embryo development that occurs aboard the Chinese space station corresponds to about 14-21 days before fertilization. This important window is when human organs begin to form, and any abnormality that occurs during this period affects the development of the fetus.
Although no one has ever tried to create a baby in space, previous studies have suggested that this is the case a harsh environment can have a negative effect about human reproduction. Cosmic radiation and microgravity can damage reproductive cells and interfere with embryo development.
To help mitigate these negative effects, scientists need to learn more about the risks of extraterrestrial reproduction. A recent experiment will hopefully help fill some of these knowledge gaps so that people can be better prepared for birds and bees to talk on another planet.
