Mars, according to scientists, will be a possible next home for the human race because keeping sperm and genetic material will be easier with less volatile storage.
Mars, mice, and mankind
The potential of founding a space colony has improved, and there are still worries about just how people would be able to have relations in the microgravity of the Red Planet, reported the Daily Mail.
Specialists previously thought that cosmic radiation will corrupt human DNA and make procreation impossible.
Nevertheless, this altered when scientists have found that mouse sperm kept for six years on the International Space Station still was intact.
In 2012, the liquid from 6 mice was deposited in more than 30 glass ampules for the very first time. The best ones to produce offspring were chosen by researchers.
Three were sent to the International Space Station (ISS) on August 4, 2013, and three others were kept in very similar storage conditions on the ground in Tsukuba, Japan.
Another successful flight 👏#MarsHelicopter completed its 7th flight and second within its operations demo phase. It flew for 62.8 seconds and traveled ~106 meters south to a new landing spot. Ingenuity also took this black-and-white navigation photo during flight. pic.twitter.com/amluVq9wbb
— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) June 8, 2021
Part of the experiment on the ISS was to let raw cosmic radiation irradiate the samples to see what happens to mice sperm.
Space sperm goes back home
On May 19, 2014, the first samples were sent back from space, confirming if the sperm survive getting exposed in space.
Next, the two samples were compared if there would be significant discoveries. Results were favorable and experts had the go-ahead for the project.
On May 11, 2016, the second sample of mouse sperm was returned from the earth's orbiting space station, exactly two years and nine months after the first batch. It gave a hint that humans can reproduce on Mars.
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Completing the lengthy space experiment, a third sample was carried back to earth on June 3, 2019, approximately five years and 10 months later. Making it one of the longest experiments based in space conducted by scientists.
Determining the final results of the space experiments are the genetic material of mice, that was packed the same way. The packages were returned by the Japanese space agency JAXA to the Yamanashi University in Japan for analysis at the same time.
Professor Sayaka Wakayama said, noted Business Insider," A large number of genetically normal progeny was born. Discoveries like these are important for mankind."
She added, "We will have to preserve the biodiversity of genetic resources, not just for humans but also for domestic animals, whenever the time comes to migrate to other planets."
Impact of the Mars exploration
Three days before, NASA's Ingenuity aircraft had accomplished its eighth successful flight on the red planet. This time, it touched down in an airfield that had only been previously glimpsed by the Mars orbiter.
The flying machine had made the trip on June 6, about fourteen days after it las sortie on the Martian surface.
According to the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)," A successful flight." NASA added," Before landing in a new location, the little helicopter flew for 62.8 seconds, traveling 348 feet south."
During its journey, the drone reportedly captured a black-and-white picture while flying."
This is the fourth airstrip that Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has landed ever since the Perseverance rover splashed down on the Red Planet on February 18.
