Dutch plan for reproduction in space delayed, but still alive

“Yes, it is an ambitious plan to have the first baby born in space in 2024. Then everything has to go well. Otherwise it will be two or three years later,” Edelbroek said in 2019. In recent years it has remained quiet around the project, but this week reports surfaced again in foreign media.

The plan appears to still be alive, although the original idea has undergone considerable refinement. Because in fact, the first woman should have been impregnated in space via artificial insemination in 2021. The birth should have taken place on earth. And next year, according to initial plans, a woman should give birth in space. But that’s certainly not going to happen yet. More about that later.

Climate change

Where does the idea come from? Egbert Edelbroek, PhD, innovation scientist at TU Eindhoven, believes that in view of climate change and deadly pandemics, consideration should be given to creating ‘independent human settlements’ outside Earth where life is possible. Births should be possible there.

He looked into it, made a plan and founded a company in 2017 to make extraterrestrial fertilization and birth possible within a few years. That led to a plan that he presented in 2019:

At the time, six women signed up to give birth to history’s first space baby during a 24- to 36-hour mission.

“We currently realize that a birth in space is still a step too far,” says Edelbroek. “We were just getting started at the time. Very enthusiastic and ambitious. We learned all kinds of things along the way, including that this is not yet feasible. But we are investigating reproduction in space in general, and that does bring us closer to the end goal.”

Conception is difficult

“If you want to make human life possible beyond Earth, you must also tackle the challenge of reproduction,” Edelbroek told the French news agency AFP last week.

He has encountered a few difficulties in that process in recent years. For example, conception in a place without or with lower gravity is quite difficult. This can initially be overcome by artificial insemination.

In recent years, the possibilities for space travel have increased, for example in 2021 the first space flight with only tourists on board:

But there are also ethical concerns. Space organizations such as NASA and ESA, which are also working on the theme, do not dare to conduct experiments in space with real people and human embryos. Little is known about the dangers of cosmic radiation and administering artificial oxygen to a baby in space.

Moreover, the launch involves the necessary forces, which can have consequences for a heavily pregnant woman and the unborn child. Edelbroek’s plans were therefore received with skepticism in 2019. For example, space expert Hans van der Lande indicated: “The entire delivery must take place floating. The chance that bleeding and complications will occur is then high.”

Step back

Edelbroek also acknowledges that it is still far too early to send people into space for this purpose. “We’ve gone from being extremely ambitious to just being very ambitious,” he says. The next step for his company: not humans, but mice to reproduce in space.

The launch with mouse embryos is planned for the end of next year. The first conception of a human embryo in space will take ‘five to six years’, Edelbroek expects. An entire reproductive cycle, from fertilization to delivery, will take quite a bit longer. “Twenty to thirty years, probably.” Will the 48-year-old Dutchman experience that himself? “I’m going to be 100 years old, so I think so,” he says firmly.

Big ambitions, big costs

Edelbroek sees ‘great benefits in discovering new areas’. “Just like NASA and ESA, we are very much in favor of this. We are now focusing on three different tasks. Investigating the conditions for safe reproduction in space. We translate the outcome into a space mission program and finally we develop the technology necessary for that.”

Edelbroek and his team have now completed a mini laboratory for the mouse cells, the size of a small shoebox. That laboratory will be launched next November.

All plans cost a lot of money, but Edelbroek has backers from two sectors: “We are developing two goals: reproduction in space on the one hand, and on the other hand we are gaining a lot of knowledge with which we can improve IVF treatments and the necessary equipment on Earth. These goals ensure that there are many investors from both sectors.”