Humans have been blasting items into Space for decades now. Starting with dogs and monkeys, later getting to humans, and then odd items like Lego figures, and even a Buzz Lightyear toy, launching items into space has been something scientists seem to love doing. A report by USA Today provided a lot of the information used in this article.

NASA Scientists have launched some pretty bizarre objects into space over the years. Perhaps the most obscure item to be launched into orbit in February 2018, was a car launched into space by Elon Musk. Now, there has been an object launched into space during April 2018 that seems to trump the orbit of a car with a dummy in it.

That object is human sperm.

Project Micro-11 has been put into effect

Nicknamed Project Micro-11, the goal of putting human sperm into space is to test the sperm's reaction to microgravity. It's no secret that scientists are attempting to make colonization on Mars a reality, and they believe sperm in space is the next best step for this dream to come true.

In order for fertilization to occur when a sperm cell fuses with an egg cell, the sperm must first be activated. Activation in sperm causes the sperm to move and then pick up speed. When moving at a fast pace, will the sperm be able to fuse with the egg? Due to experiments with sea urchin sperm, scientists have discovered that in microgravity, sperm activated quickly.

However, the sperm moved very slowly and did not properly fuse with the egg. Fertility did not occur. Situations, where there were some successful fertility experiments in space, have been reported. Animals in the amphibian class had become pregnant and laid eggs in space. In the case of mammals, though, breeding has been less successful.

In 1979, rats had become pregnant in space but then miscarried, making the experiment unsuccessful.

Will humans be able to reproduce in space?

It is still uncertain whether humans will be able to reproduce on Mars. On Mars, human beings weigh a little over a third of what they do on Earth. Because of this, it is uncertain on how humans will grow and evolve on Mars compared to how they do so on Earth.

For now, we will all have to wait to see how Project Micro-11 pans out. The sperm, which was frozen before blast off, will be thawed once in orbit and then mixed with a chemical which will cause the sperm to activate. The sperm will then be under careful examination to see if it takes the same steps at it does on Earth to fuse with an egg cell. But for now, all we can do is hope Project Micro-11 is a success, and then Mars colonization might be possible.
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