Reproduction for long duration space missions?

[VincentMcConnell]

A friend and I have been discussing this and going back and forth to oppose or defend certain aspects of this for the last two days. Do you think it is possible for reproduction to actually work in space? Since -- of course -- interstellar travel will probably require it.

That and the fact that it\'d probably get kind of boring to be in the blackness of space for the next 40 years... lol

[Monkthespy]

A friend and I have been discussing this and going back and forth to oppose or defend certain aspects of this for the last two days. Do you think it is possible for reproduction to actually work in space? Since -- of course -- interstellar travel will probably require it.

That and the fact that it\'d probably get kind of boring to be in the blackness of space for the next 40 years... lol

It should work fine. Although, you need a high protein diet, carbs, etc, it would require lots of supplies. And you would need a lot of exercise and maybe slight gravity.

[LaydeeDem]

You would definitely need an artificial gravity source. Two reasons:

1. Newtons Third Law.

2. In a low gravity environment, all the blood flows to your head, instead of where it\'s needed.

Only upside is that the low gravity makes breasts larger, but that\'s about it. =P

[Ydoow]

I don\'t see why it\'s not possible.

Perhaps a larger risk for the fetus to wrap itself around the umbilical cord which would cause complications during delivery.

However I don\'t think it seems very feasible by today\'s standards

That\'s a lot of resources and a lot of potential for bad things to happen.

If we\'re talkin one o\' dem giant sci-fi space crafts though, then yeah totally.

[Ydoow]

You would definitely need an artificial gravity source. Two reasons:

1. Newtons Third Law.

2. In a low gravity environment, all the blood flows to your head, instead of where it\'s needed.

Only upside is that the low gravity makes breasts larger, but that\'s about it. =P

Naw. Blood would flow equally, not all to your head.

And your body controls blood flow by constricting/relaxing specific blood vessels (I forget their names D:) to redirect it where it wants it.

Same way in how your body shuts down your kidneys during exercise giving your muscles more blood.

[Foamy]

Reproduction is almost impossible without gravity. Tests in space show that from the embryo stage onwards the biological processes just don\'t work reliably in 0G.

Fertilisation is fine but beyond that you\'re only going to get horribly deformed and usually dead results.

[Ydoow]

Reproduction is almost impossible without gravity. Tests in space show that from the embryo stage onwards the biological processes just don\'t work reliably in 0G.

Fertilisation is fine but beyond that you\'re only going to get horribly deformed and usually dead results.

Really?

Please elaborate. Which parts fail?

[Foamy]

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/spacebabies/

Not actually impossible but likely that if humans attempted it the failure rate and long term effects for any survivors would be too much for people to handle.

[LaydeeDem]

Naw. Blood would flow equally, not all to your head.

And your body controls blood flow by constricting/relaxing specific blood vessels (I forget their names D:) to redirect it where it wants it.

Same way in how your body shuts down your kidneys during exercise giving your muscles more blood.

\

Didn\'t know that.

But there still is another issue. A baby born in space will never visit Earth without an exoskeleton suit. Reproduction in space would make a new species of human. Actually, that seems like a neat experiment. If we got past ethical issues of it, we could place a massive ship in an elliptical orbit around the sun, wait a few decades before it returns, and meet the new species of spacepeople.

[Foamy]

\

Didn\'t know that.

But there still is another issue. A baby born in space will never visit Earth without an exoskeleton suit. Reproduction in space would make a new species of human. Actually, that seems like a neat experiment. If we got past ethical issues of it, we could place a massive ship in an elliptical orbit around the sun, wait a few decades before it returns, and meet the new species of spacepeople.

They wouldn\'t be a different species, their genetics would be virtually identical.; it\'s just that their bodies would be entirely focused on weightlessness and so unable to function without years of therapy in high gravity.

[Ydoow]

They wouldn\'t be a different species, their genetics would be virtually identical.; it\'s just that their bodies would be entirely focused on weightlessness and so unable to function without years of therapy in high gravity.

Thank you, words right out of my mouth.

I\'m not sure about years though.

Well I guess it entirely depends on how long this off-spring lives in a 0g environment before being introduced into 1g

[VincentMcConnell]

Only upside is that the low gravity makes breasts larger, but that\'s about it. =P

And float around nicely. LOL

[iamwearingpants]

With commercial spaceflight on the rise, will we see space porn? Never before have so many fantasies been fulfilled at once, hehe.

[semininja]

I think that exceeds the bounds of decency for this forum.

On-topic: What about gravity-rotors?

[VincentMcConnell]

With commercial spaceflight on the rise, will we see space porn? Never before have so many fantasies been fulfilled at once, hehe.

LOL. I don\'t think so...

[colmo]

The human body works best at 1G - that\'s why pretty much all the concept generational spacecraft have a wheel to generate artificial gravity (actually centrifugal force).

You also need a complete working biosphere - this is what the Biosphere experiments were trying to figure out. Everything will be recycled - absolutely nothing is wasted.

We also need an energy source - I\'d guess that nuclear is the best option at present.

Given the necessary nutrition (I\'m guessing artificial light too), and shielding from radiation, I see no reason why humans could not gestate and be born in space.

The idea of sending folks out there, cut off from the parent race, is an engine of science-fiction - in biology, it\'s a classic founder effect, as the small group is unlikely to have a completely representative collection of alleles. The evolutionary pressures on this small population are so different that, given enough time, they\'d perhaps become a sub-species. Their culture and language could diverge too.

I\'d imagine they\'d lose pigmentation (lighter skinned people do better at producing vitamin D in iffy light than those with darker skin folks, and the artificial light would lack the harmful radiation that melanin is so useful in blocking - I\'m not being racist, some of this came as a surprise to me too!), be very smart, be smaller, and have excellent hand-eye coordination and spatial awareness. There\'d be downsides - their immune systems would be utterly ignorant of the continued retrovirus pandemics the Earth has every year, and they\'d lose most of their languages - boiled down to a common tongue plus maths, music and programming. All pure speculation of course, based on the assumptions of small population, lack of space, high skill requirements (no room for slackers!) and poor light.

[Johno]

Colmo\'s on the money.

Much as people fantasise about zero-G sex, the fact is that we\'ve yet to even figure out a way to make it possible. The closest I\'ve heard is a woman in the USA who has developed a velcro jumpsuit designed to allow a couple to lock together in freefall. It was tested (nothing NSFW! Just connecting the suits, one kiss, then a disconnect) in a zero-G aircraft. However, none of the Space Agencies have shown any interest in performing more vigorous tests aboard the ISS . . .

[LukeTim]

I\'d be very interested to see when someone actually attempts an artificial gravity experiment in space. I know there\'s tons of mad billionaires with plans for space travel, anybody know of any companies which want to try it?

[VincentMcConnell]

Sure. I\'ll buy one of those 500,000 dollar tickets to Mars and take a 'friend' along. haha

In all seriousness, I think Virgin Galactic refused to try it when someone offered. It fits their name.

[Foamy]

I do believe that a video of this nature has already been undertaken using the \'vomit comet\' or something similar but have no idea where it may be found.

[RedDwarfIV]

I do believe that a video of this nature has already been undertaken using the \'vomit comet\' or something similar but have no idea where it may be found.

I was fairly certain it had been done on one of those.

[VincentMcConnell]

They don\'t actually do it. The experiment didn\'t biologically tell us anything. Basically, all it showed was that two people can hook themselves together in space...

[simplemunrockets]

With commercial spaceflight on the rise, will we see space porn?

Rule 34 knows no bounds.

[colmo]

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2007/02/do_astronauts_have_sex.html

'In space, no one can hear you moan.'

[Imandreas]

everyone watch your language. There are youngsters on the forums!