Everyone, it seems, is fixated on space exploration right now. NASA, in collaboration with the Canadian, Japanese and European space agencies, is working on the Gateway programme to build a human-tended space station in lunar orbit; and various billionaires are continuing with their plans to establish colonies on Mars and Venus and launch space tourism enterprises.
Assuming they’re successful, these projects would represent the first, tentative steps humanity takes away from Earth and further out into space.
But if surviving among the stars is the long-term aim of such endeavours, there’s a hurdle that needs to be overcome in the short term: human reproduction. Making babies in space, whether by artificial means or naturally, is fraught with issues, most notably radiation and gravity.
SpaceBorn United, a company based in the Netherlands, is trying to address these issues. To that end, it has developed a miniaturised IVF and embryo incubator, which is ready to be launched on a mission to assess humanity’s ability to reproduce in space.
In late August, the company recently completed a drop test from 20km (12.4 miles) above Earth to test for the impacts of radiation on organic material.
SpaceBorn United’s CEO Dr Egbert Edelbroek explains more...
What is SpaceBorn’s main goal?
We intend to perform conception and early embryo development in space. If we want to have human settlements, for example, on Mars, and if we want to make those settlements really independent, that requires solving the reproduction challenge.
Nobody knows if the gravity level of Mars, which is much less than the Earth’s, will be sufficient for healthy embryo development. So initially we were only focusing on learning about partial gravity effects.
But we learned that there is another goal that we can contribute to, which is improving IVF on Earth. Doing IVF in space at different gravity levels will provide crucial insights that can increase the success of IVF treatments.
This includes ground-based tests, which we’re discussing with the European Space Agency (ESA), as they have facilities to simulate microgravity or partial gravity. We're excited that we can contribute to this.
How close are you to achieving this?
The next logical step for IVF is biotech in space. We are interested in the development of artificial wombs as they might contribute to solving the reproduction challenge in space [currently these are being developed for premature babies rather than for use in space].
Meanwhile, a research team in Israel have succeeded in having mouse embryos growing outside of the natural world for 11 days. The target we're aiming for is five days – first with mice and then with human cells and embryos. [The legal limit on human embryo research in the UK is currently 14 days].
Of course, the first step is also using animal models like mammalian gametes and embryos. But eventually, of course, we need to transition to working with human gametes.
So far, for the last five to six years, we have focused on this first stage of reproduction – and probably will for the next five to six years. This includes conception and embryo early embryo development.
People are often interested in our longer-term mission to achieve childbirth in space. But our timelines were a little bit ambitious – so we continue to focus on that first stage. Eventually, of course, somebody needs to do childbirth in space – maybe we will do it soon.
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How does IVF in space actually work?
We are using microfluidic technology to miniaturize and re-engineer existing embryo incubators. These were never designed to be small or low mass. So now we have made it into a CD-ROM-sized disc, full of micro channels. Different chambers hold sperm fluids and female eggs, and you can programme the complete conception process on that disc.
There's been a lot of progress in terms of hardware. Our first prototype is finished, ready to go into space. We're very proud of that.
Are you working with astronauts on natural conception, or will that come much later?
We know that natural conception in space is ethically and medically not a good idea. But there's this space tourism sector opening up and accelerating.
That will be a magnet for couples that want crazy bragging rights, like “Hey, we have the very first baby conceived in space naturally”. That's not a good idea.
We wrote a paper about this together with scientists including Professor David Cullen from Cranfield University to boost awareness of the risks of natural sex in space. It went a little bit viral, actually!
Your launch is scheduled for 2025. Do you think plans to send humans to colonise Mars or Venus by 2050 are realistic?
I think there are so many reasons to leave the Earth and to expand humanity's comfort zone. Exploration has given huge benefits to humanity. And now there's the new space race, with India and Russia sending Moon landers into space.
But there is another reason. We’re not treating Earth nicely with climate change – and there are potential problems with asteroids, artificial intelligence, even nuclear threats. It would be a good idea to have a back-up plan.
But 25 years… who knows? Artificial intelligence seems capable of speeding up a lot of things, but of course it's also about budgets. More and more private companies, including a lot of billionaires now, are taking part in the space race so it’s further accelerating.
However, until recently space companies have focused on the engineering and hardware necessary to get people to space – not the reproductive part. The main reason is that it's ethically complex and sensitive.
But it's pretty pointless to spend all those billions of dollars and effort on preparing settlements on Mars if you cannot fix the reproductive challenge. There will be people living there – so there’s a life science part that has been in the margins.
We are adding to that life science research that needs to happen.
Like those racing to the Moon or Mars, are these baby steps in a different kind of space race?
We have been approached by countries who want to put themselves on the map with some unique achievement in space – and it seems that being able to claim enabling the very first human baby conceived in space seems attractive for them in that regard. In the longer term enabling the first childbirth in space is another very big step, of course.
Some other companies are working on space conception with frog eggs, fruit flies and sometimes small mammals like mice or rats. But nobody else has the aim to do this with human gametes and embryos.
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