Scientists send human sperm into space in bid to test chances of populating Mars

Boffins have taken sperm on ‘the vomit comet’ to test the likely success of procreation on Mars.

While space travel is admittedly a little exclusive at the moment, forward thinking scientists are planning for a future with more accessible cosmic cruising. What’s more the belief that we could one day create space settlements on celestial bodies like the Moon and Mars, researchers have started looking into all types of scenarios. And one recent experiment saw the analysts delving into the chances of having a space baby.

The team behind the study wrote in their paper: “With the upcoming plans for extended space missions and growing interest in space tourism, the topic of possible likelihood of human conception under microgravity conditions has become even more relevant.”

They admitted that not much is understood about how microgravity affects human reproduction, especially male gametes.

And that technical and ethical challenges, along with limited chances for research, have made it hard to gather useful data on this subject.

Thus far, investigations concerning gravity’s simulation on animal specimens have taken place on terra firma. Although these studies indicate species-specific reactions, such as decreased movement in mouse sperm and enhanced mobility in bull semen.

To probe further into how human sperm would behave, researchers launched it into sub-zero gravity via a parabolic flight, colloquially termed “the vomit comet,” notorious for its tendency to induce intense queasiness among its riders.

Parabolic flights, while affordable and accessible for simulating micro-gravity, are not without their flaws due to the intense “hypergravity” phase that follows weightlessness as the aircraft recovers from its free-fall. Despite this, researchers found these flights adequate for their experiment and proceeded to gather sperm samples for testing.

The study enlisted 15 volunteers with viable sperm, which was scrutinized before the flight. The samples were divided into two groups: one destined for a zero-gravity adventure, and the other left on the ground as a control.

The samples destined for the skies were securely fastened to an empty seat to avoid any disruption to the crew or pilot during the intricate flight manoeuvres, all while being meticulously tracked by sensitive accelerometers. Post-flight, the sperm was whisked back to the lab for further examination.

The findings were significant: “Exposure to short duration gravity load changes including microgravity, as sustained in a parabolic flight statistically significantly decreases the sperm motility and vitality of human fresh sperm samples,” the team concluded, noting the potential implications for long-term human space colonization.

However, warned of future challenges: “In the future, should humans remain in space for long periods of time with exposure to different microgravity and hypergravity peaks, which could range from months to a number of years, reproduction may pose a problem to be tackled.”

The exact process by which sperm motility is reduced is still a mystery, and researchers say more investigation is necessary.

“As our experiments involved only few seconds of microgravity,” the team noted, “the question arises as to what the effects of a more prolonged exposure might be.”

The study is published in Acta Astronautica.

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