Can humans have children in space? China launches human embryos into space for the first time - here's what's behind it
Permanent settlements on the moon or Mars raise a key question: Can humans reproduce in space? Chinese researchers are now testing this with embryo-like stem cell structures.
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- For the first time, China has sent artificial human embryos into space to study their early development in zero gravity.
- The samples were frozen after five days and brought back to earth. They are now being compared with control samples.
- Previous animal experiments in space have produced mixed results. Fertilization, embryonic development and sperm movement in particular remain unclear.
Can humans reproduce in space? This question is crucial for all future plans to establish permanent settlements outside the Earth. The Chinese Academy of Sciences has now launched a first attempt: it sent artificial human embryos to the Tiangong space station - the first nation ever to do so.
On May 11, a supply spaceship docked at the Chinese space station and brought a special cargo with it: Collections of human stem cells that were supposed to behave like an embryo without actually being one.
Embryos cannot develop into fetuses
The artificial embryos are stem cell structures that mimic the embryonic development of the first days of pregnancy. Unlike real embryos, they cannot develop into fetuses. The researchers are thus avoiding the ethically sensitive question of whether real human embryos can be used for such experiments.
The aim of the experiment is to understand how weightlessness in space affects early human embryonic development. The results should show whether the biological prerequisites for future lunar or Martian settlements are even present.
After five days on the station, the samples were frozen and brought back to Earth at the end of May. They are now being compared with embryos that remained on Earth during the same period - to see whether and how weightlessness has affected their development.
Sperm lose orientation in weightlessness
The question of reproduction in space has occupied scientists for some time - with mixed results. In 1994, NASA succeeded in getting Japanese rice fish to mate on board a space shuttle. However, other experiments with fruit flies and mice failed due to high mortality and failed pregnancies. In 2014, geckos were to be mated on a Russian satellite, but the animals died shortly before landing on Earth.
In 2023, a Japanese research team took an important step forward: astronauts bred mouse embryos in space for the first time on the International Space Station (ISS). Although the survival rate was lower than on Earth, the embryos that made it developed normally. Another sobering result was revealed by an Australian study in March of this year: according to the study, sperm lose their orientation under simulated weightlessness and miss their target.
