Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

seakingsoyuz t1_jef262t wrote

Reply to comment by Hot-Ad-6967 in This Netherlands-based university company works on conceiving babies in space by inno_brew

> need the gravity

There have been experiments with pregnant rats that were launched into space and successfully delivered litters afterwards.

Rats born in space struggle to orient themselves right side up in gravity, but they figure it out in a few days.

From what I can find, there haven’t been any experiments on conception or zygote implantation in space, but that’s because they can’t get the rats to figure out how to bang in zero gravity, not because of any specific reason it shouldn’t work.

This is a little reminiscent of the NASA scientists who were convinced that microgravity would interfere with Sally Ride’s menstrual cycle.

7

Objective-Mechanic89 t1_jefanhn wrote

>This is a little reminiscent of the NASA scientists who were convinced that microgravity would interfere with Sally Ride's menstrual cycle.

I'd be more worried about how low gravity affects bone density or the effects of cosmic radiation outside of earth's atmosphere in the development of the fetus. There are valid ethical concerns that don't boil down to oppressing women in some way.

8