Why scientists suggest you take space sex ed before blasting off | CBC Radio

Imagine you’re orbiting the earth with your significant other on a lovely space vacation. Maybe there are a few candles lit, floating around you. The mood is set. One thing leads to another, and then you’re doing some lunar lovemaking.

As that becomes a very real possibility with the advancement of space tourism, professor David Cullen says those bedroom shenanigans need to be discussed.

“It seems reasonable to assume that a fraction of those space tourists will want to engage in sexual activities, and of course, therefore, the potential for human conception to be a result in some of those cases [is possible],” Cullen told Matt Galloway on The Current.

Cullen is a professor of astrobiology and space biotechnology at Cranfield University in the United Kingdom. He worked with a team of scientists and clinicians to produce a research paper titled, Sex in Space: Consideration of uncontrolled human conception in emerging space tourism. 

He says that much remains unknown about what conceiving in space might do to a pregnancy — and as more people take to the stars, that needs to be studied thoroughly. 

Safe space sex

The report calls for space tourism companies such as SpaceX, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin to take a deeper look at the possible implications of sex in space.

Cullen says it’s not the act of joining the 1,000 mile high club that comes with risks, but rather the possible repercussions. 

“The key thing here is the space environments, primarily that of weightlessness and increased levels of ionizing radiation compared to the levels of ionizing radiation we all experience here on the surface of the Earth,” said Cullen.

“We don’t know what will happen with humans if they were to conceive and have the first early stages of human reproduction happening in space.”

The biggest concern for a pregnancy in space would be whether a fetus’s development would be affected by microgravity, said planetary scientist Tanya Harisson.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if a baby conceived on a few-day jaunt into space would turn out just fine,” said Harrison, a former lead of a project studying the effect of space on humans’ five senses through Arizona State University’s Interplanetary Initiative who was not involved in Cullen’s report.

“But conceiving and then carrying a fetus in microgravity for weeks or even months at a time, I imagine that is when we’d start to see some biological issues crop up.”

According to Harrison, there’s been some research into animal reproduction conducted on the International Space Station, “with mixed results.”

“Some animals were able to reproduce in microgravity, while others couldn’t,” she said.

In one experiment conducted by NASA research scientist April Ronca, rats were sent to space in the second half of their pregnancy but brought back to Earth to give birth. 

“The only difference we observed … is that the pups were born with twice as many labour contractions on the part of the mother,” she told Futurism in 2015.

Cullen says any medical complications from the world’s first space baby could also create legal problems for the space tourism sector. He says companies could face litigation, reputation damage and financial loss. 

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Space sex ed 

Cullen suggests that any tourist heading off planet should go through medical counselling to understand the potential risks of conceiving in space, and be asked to sign a waiver saying they understand those risks.

The report also recommended a series of meetings and consultations between stakeholders to discuss what should happen going forward, and how to mitigate the risk of space conception. It suggested establishing a set of regulations and best practices.

“What we’re not saying is that therefore we have to ban space tourism because of this risk. What we’re saying is the community needs to kind of overtly discuss it and come up with what could be quite simple mitigation processes,” said Cullen.

As far as actually doing the deed itself, microgravity presents several challenges, including a drop in blood pressure, which “could pose issues for blood flow to the genital areas of all genders,” said Harrison.

“Separate from the biological issues, the lack of gravity would certainly lend itself to requiring more creativity in the approach,” she added.

The CBC has requested comment from space tourism companies Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, and SpaceX. Those companies have not responded. 

But Cullen says there are other reasons, outside of the tourism industry, that should encourage more study into space sex. 

“If we are to become a kind of multi-planetary species, then of course we clearly need to think about that full human life cycle,” said Cullen.

Harisson argues that if we don’t take the time to learn more about the science of sex in space, “we won’t know if we can actually become an interplanetary species.”

“If we can’t reproduce — or can’t safely do so — below a certain gravity level, that’s critical to know,” she said.