Although scientists have had the luxury of being able to closely examine creatures evolve in the gravitational influence of Earth, little is known about how humans and other living things evolve and adapt in the space environment. In fact, scientists were previously unsure humans could eat and absorb micronutrients in microgravity, a belief that was later revealed to be false.
In an attempt to better understand evolution in microgravity, a Chinese satellite, SJ-10, revealed important data that suggests it is possible for mammals - and possibly humans - to reproduce in space.
"The human race may still have a long way to go before we can colonize the space," said Duan Enkui, the professor from the Chinese Academy of Sciences who led the experiment. "But before that, we have to figure out whether it is possible for us to survive and reproduce in the outer space environment like we do on Earth. Now, we finally proved that the most crucial step in our reproduction - the early embryo development - is possible in the outer space."
SJ-10 didn't house any humans or animals, but it did contain numerous cells. Prior to its journey into space, scientists loaded it up with more than 6,000 mouse embryos. For seven days, a team of scientists watched these embryos remotely through microscopic images that the satellite sent back periodically during this period of time.
Enkui's team conducted this research with the intent on learning if these embryos would proceed through the early stages of maturation while in orbit and found that they did. The cells in the embryos went from the two-cell stage to differentiated blastocysts, which is an evolution that would be expected if the embryos matured on Earth.
When it comes to space exploration, early embryo development is crucial. Scientists hope to eventually be able to create artificial wombs that can house growing embryos, but if microgravity interferes with early developmental stages, this might never be possible. Although it's still unclear how gestation would proceed and the satellite only examined mouse embryos, the results are promising to say the least.
The Chinese satellite SJ-10 launched April 6 and, although it was only a seven-day mission, the capsule was recovered earlier today in China and will be transported to Beijing so that scientists can continue to study the cells.
