Scientists are thinking over technologies for the reproduction of mankind outside the Earth.
It looks like humanity will have to get off the ground in the foreseeable future. By the beginning of the last century, 1.5 billion people lived on the planet. Now there are more than 7 billion of us. And by 2050 there will be almost 10 billion. Can the Earth feed us all?
And then global warming has tightened … Ice reserves on the tops of the planet are catastrophically melting. World ocean levels are rising. The permafrost is turning into swamps. Hurricanes rampage in places where they have never been heard of before.
And more and more weapons are being accumulated. Accidentally pressed button, computer crash - and yeah …
City in orbit. Photo: James Vaughan / Ministry of Information and Communications of Asgrad.
Non-secret supper
Science fiction writers have been writing for a long time that earthlings will have to seek refuge outside the planet. Scientists began to think about the problem. But governments are in no hurry to fund such work - they are considered too detached from our current life. Although, for sure, in vain.
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Therefore, the first scientific congress on this topic in the history of mankind was convened by the space state of Asgrad. What it is? This is a union of people who believe that the next stage of human development is in space. The citizens of Asgardia have their own territory (the satellite launched last year), their own parliament, government and constitution.
Life in orbit. Photo: James Vaughan / Ministry of Information and Communications of Asgrad.
In the small conference room of the Best Western Plaza Hotel in Darmstadt, Germany, an important historical event actually took place. Researchers from the largest scientific centers in the world have gathered to discuss how people can survive in space, how to keep our unlucky humanity outside the Earth. The event was officially called the first scientific and investment congress of the space state of Asgardia.
I think that now, probably, only in this way - with the support of many still strange structures and it is possible to discuss problems that, perhaps, in a couple of decades will become the main ones for earthlings.
Science fiction writers have been writing for a long time that earthlings will have to seek refuge outside the planet. Photo: James Vaughan / Ministry of Information and Communications of Asgrad.
- This is pioneering, visionary, futurism or madness - call it what you want, - explains the head of the space nation, philanthropist, entrepreneur, doctor of technical sciences and, by the way, in the recent past director of the Almaz-Antey concern, creator of the S-400 missile complex Igor Ashurbeyli. - Until a certain time, many considered Tsiolkovsky a madman. Nevertheless, most of his prophecies became reality. Perhaps, the time is not far off when the main prediction of the founder of astronautics will come true, and humanity will leave its earthly cradle. For this, Asgardia was created.
For some reason Ashurbeyli is sure that the first child in space will be born in 25 years. By that time, technology will make it possible to conceive and bear a fetus outside of our ball. But for this, now we need to solve three problems:
- Consider the biological possibility of such an event. To minimize all possible medical risks.
- Provide the ship or station in which the birth will take place with artificial gravity.
- Protect the station population from radiation.
Space cities in orbit. Photo: James Vaughan / Ministry of Information and Communications of Asgrad.
Immaculate Conception?
Of course, when it comes to childbirth in space, the first question is: how is conception to be organized? This, by the way, is one of the most important ethical and physiological issues in modern studies of human life in zero gravity. How many articles (mostly tabloid) were there on the topic of whether there is sex in space? Now for six months both women and men fly together. So what? Not once and no one? No, - the astronauts, doctors and flight directors answer.
And even experiments were not carried out? No, we didn't. It's one thing to mate flies. People are another matter. Who will be responsible for the abnormal development of the fetus? Then the question arises - how can we talk about conceiving and giving birth to a healthy child in space without experiments? And this is how, Ashurbeyli believes: when a group of earthlings leaves for space for permanent residence, there will be no choice. We'll have to breed. And the task of scientists and engineers is to provide people with an environment in which the development of the fetus and childbirth should take place as comfortably as possible, that is, as on Earth.
- I will note the sanctimonious speculations about the risks of childbirth for both the mother and the child, - says Ashurbeyli. - Humanity would never have become what it is today, if our wooden ships did not go into complete obscurity - to the shores, which were not, not only on Google Maps, but on any maps at all. We are simply obliged to give ourselves a chance, now, having more or less mastered the Earth and realizing the finiteness of our existence on it. A chance for the continuation of the human race in the Universe.
The first child in space will be born in 25 years. Photo: James Vaughan / Ministry of Information and Communications of Asgrad.
Artificial gravity
Scientists believe that it is artificial gravity that is the main thing that will keep a person healthy during a long space flight. You can, of course, fly without it. This is how it is now on the International Space Station. But even two hours of physical education does not guarantee the astronauts normal health when they return to Earth. In zero gravity, the body is rebuilt and many physiological processes begin to occur in a different way.
“For long-term flights, for example, for flights to Mars, the creation of artificial gravity will be of great importance for astronauts,” said Lawrence Young, professor of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, professor of the Apollo program in Darmstadt. - Therefore, the spacecraft must have a centrifuge providing microgravity.
So far, even experiments on creating artificial gravity at space stations have not been carried out. It is expensive and difficult.
Flying cars in Asgardia. Photo: James Vaughan / Ministry of Information and Communications of Asgrad.
Radiation
But if we at least theoretically understand how to ensure gravity in zero gravity, then with radiation it is more and more complicated.
According to Christine Helweig, head of the radiobiology department at the Institute of Aerospace Medicine at the German Aerospace Center, pregnancy in space is dangerous. The dose limit for an unborn child is 1 mSv. Now, during a 6-month flight to the ISS, the cosmonaut accumulates about 100 mSv. That is, for nine months of flight in deep space, the embryo can "collect" up to 500 mSv. (On the ISS, astronauts are still protected from radiation by the Earth's magnetic belt, which is why the station's orbit passes at an altitude of only 400 kilometers).
“That is, ideally, for a safe pregnancy in space, we must reduce the radiation dose by 500 times,” explains Professor Helveig.
But here there are real developers. Christine Helveig said that the test flight of the Orion spacecraft in 2021 (Orion is being created in the United States for flights to the moon - Ed.) Will send dummies dressed in special radiation-proof vests. They were invented by the Israeli company StemRad and consist of special polyethylene materials that trap protons. If the experiment is successful, astronauts flying to the Moon and Mars will be able to use suits made of such material during periods of increased solar activity.
Another option is pills.
“We are developing drugs that will protect the bone marrow, an organ most exposed to radiation,” said Sara Baatu, head of the radiobiology department at the Belgian Nuclear Research Center.
And the third option is to put a person to sleep during an interplanetary flight. This is what hibernation is called in science fiction films. That is, the hibernation into which, for example, brown bears fall. Only here you have to learn how to put a person to sleep.
Walter Tinganelli, head of clinical radiobiology at research firm GSI, believes extended artificial sleep is a good option for the crew. First, it saves food and water. Secondly, it is easier to protect a person in one place from radiation.
In general, there is already an understanding of how to act.
Boulevard in the space city. Photo: James Vaughan / Ministry of Information and Communications of Asgrad.
So are we going to give birth?
Scientists attending the Asgardian Congress confirm that the problems that could hinder the normal development of pregnancy in space flight are quite solvable in the coming decades.
Professor Satoshi Iwase from Aichi Medical University of Japan explains: even on Earth in the womb, the fetus develops, in fact, in zero gravity, floating in the amniotic fluid. So the development of a child both under normal conditions and in space should be the same. So the main task is to protect the mother's body. Scientists from our Institute of Biomedical Problems also took part in the congress. It is this institute that is responsible for the health of astronauts during the flight and post-flight rehabilitation.
Will an international scientific group be created, which will be engaged in the "mixing" of all research in order to come to grips with the risky task of having a child in space? I think not yet, the time has not yet come for this.
But the fact that such a conversation, moreover, the conversation of scientists has begun, is already a serious step for the future of all mankind.
ALEXANDER MILKUS