having babies in space

China has just sent a very special shipment to the Tiangong, one that aims to find out the answer to whether humans will be able to reproduce in space. Because the great powers have embarked on adventure to colonize the Moon or Marsbut there is a fundamental question which is whether a human embryo can develop in zero gravity. The Chinese Academy of Sciences hopes the answer “is yes.”

And that’s why they have sent a curious ‘Noah’s Ark’ to their space station.

In short. This May 11, the State Laboratory of Stem Cells and Reproductive Biology post the ship Tianzhou-10 with a cell with embryos of zebrafish, mice and artificial humans. These human embryos are derived from stem cells that are now on their way to the Chinese Tiangong station.

This is a facility that the Asian giant has plans to expand to be the great space laboratory once the International Space Station is dismantled, and this is a first step to see if humans can reproduce and develop in zero gravity.

artificial humans. Before entering into the objectives, it is advisable to clarify what “artificial humans” is. As Chinese authorities point out, these human embryos are not complete organisms that can become babies. Simply put, these are structures made from stem cells that mimic the very early phases of human development.

What has been sent to the Tiangong corresponds approximately to days 14 to 21 after fertilization, a crucial window because it is during which all organs begin to form and in which any anomaly can have a significant impact on human development. For five days, the station’s astronauts will monitor the status of the embryos. They will then freeze them and send them to Earth for analysis.

Aim. It is not the first time that embryos have been sent to space. A few months ago we already said that China had sent a mouse so that it would have babies in the station that would later be analyzed to see if they came with any alteration. Nine were born and six survived, resulting in tremendous success because there were so many things that could go wrong. The goal is to see if we can survive away from the protection of the Earth’s atmosphere, and there are more things outside of zero gravity that could be an evolutionary barrier.

For example, cosmic radiation, a shower of high-energy particles passing through us, can cause breaks in DNA, with unexpected and fatal consequences. On Earth, the atmosphere protects us, but without that shield, the exposure is much greater. What was deduced from the mouse research is that the cellular repair mechanisms of mammals are capable of compensating for this damage, at least in short-duration flights.

That is why this mission is so special because they will spend a longer time in orbit and, furthermore, it is the first time that such a large sample system has been sent with lower vertebrates up to models of human embryos. Those responsible for the project point out that it is the first attempt in history to answer the question of whether humans can reproduce in space and, thanks to the data, work will be possible to develop technologies that mitigate possible adverse effects.

Pawned. China is very focused on studying these effects of microgravity and cosmic radiation on embryonic development and, apart from this experiment or that of the mouse, it already sent 6,000 mouse embryos on the SJ-10 satellite in 2016, demonstrating that mammals can complete the first phases of embryonic development.

And in 2023, Japanese scientists They sent frozen mouse embryos to the ISS, where they were thawed and where it was concluded that these conditions did not significantly affect the formation of blastocysts.

With foot on board. The Tianzhou-10 carries another load to carry out experiments such as ultra-thin solar cells or greenhouse gas sensors, but evidently the issue of embryos draws much more attention. And what it shows is that China is going full throttle in this new space race.

A race in which space is being militarized, but also in which a new playing field is being defined for get unlimited energy that being able to send the Earth through laser ‘cannons’ and even the possibility of turn the moon into a mine space.

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