What: Micro-11 Mission
Why: To test sperm mobility in zero-gravity environment
Where: International Space Station
- NASA has sent frozen human and bull sperm on board a Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station to test what happens when it gets exposed to zero-gravity environment.
- The mission, dubbed Micro-11, technically began on April 1.
- As per NASA, the astronauts aboard the ISS will thaw and chemically activate the samples to prepare them for union with an egg Using video recording they will track the sperm movements and send them back to Earth for further analysis.
- According to the lead scientist for NASA’s space biology project Fathi Karouia, baased on previous experiments, it seems the lack of gravity facilitates sperm mobility. This is in line with other investigations on different model organisms which have shown that microgravity conditions trigger faster cell regeneration.
- This project is the first to apply proven analytical methods to assess the fertility of human and bovine sperm in spaceflight.
- The Micro-11 mission could also offer new insights into the ways long-duration spaceflight will influence human reproduction.
- Although this is not the first time sperm has been sent into space for testing, it could offer new insights into the ways long-duration spaceflight will influence human reproduction.
- So far, several species, including frogs, salamanders, sea urchins, jellyfish, snails, medaka fish, nematode (roundworm, known as Caenorhabditis elegans), and other aquatic invertebrate animals, have successfully undergone breeding in space.
