British scientists in collaboration with Dutch company SpaceBorn United, carrying out artificial insemination on biotechnology satellites that orbits the earth, which aims to create babies in space.
This experiment was carried out as part of an effort to open the way for humans to make colonies outside the planet. The first flight test is planned to launch from Canada in early May.
"The aim is so that humans can ultimately reproduce outside the planet in a natural way. But to achieve it in the most medical and optimal manner, we need to learn it with special reproductive technology," said one of the SpaceBorn United scientists, Dr. Egbert Edelbroek, quoted from Daily Star.
As an initial experiment, they will conduct experiments using sperm and eggs from mice or animals similar to rats. This effort was supported by Asgardia, an international space community established in 2016 to create a colony of space.
In 2019, the community estimated that the first baby could be born in space in the next 12 years. This statement was then reinforced when speaking at Asgardia's first space and science Congress, The Space Nation in Darmstadt, Germany, that the first space baby will be born in 2031.
"We must identify moral and biological sustainable solutions for births in space or we will never reach the planet and star systems," said the Chairman of the ASGARDIA Parliament, Opik Lembit.
From the scientific side, Edelbroek said this was only possible in the Lower Earth Orbit (Low Earth Orbit/Leo), and it was only possible thanks to a very thorough selection procedure.
The Space Nation Congress sets a number of requirements for pregnant women and medical personnel who will be able to carry out this procedure, including having experience to space, and high natural radiation resistance.
"We can induce the labor process as they do at the In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) clinic every day. Of course it will be difficult to plan natural processes like this if there are problems with weather, or delays in launch," said Edelbroek.
"But experts who work with us, they believe that this might happen, and that will be the only way to make it happen," he believes.
