The reentry capsule for the SJ-10 research mission is shown after landing in inner Mongolia on Monday. (credit: Xinhua)
Over the next couple of decades, NASA wants to extend the human presence into the Solar System, including onto the surface of Mars. Elon Musk founded SpaceX expressly to colonize the red planet by the 2020s or 2030s. For now, both the government and private sector have focused on “hardware”: the rockets, spacecraft, and technology needed to keep humans alive en route to Mars and on its surface. And these are not simple or inexpensive problems to solve.
One could argue, however, that the “software” problems may prove even more challenging. That is, can an embryo mature in space, be born, and grow into a healthy human being?
After a 12-day experiment in space this month, Chinese scientists claim they have done so. On April 6, the SJ-10 spacecraft launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu province carrying about 20 different experiments in a retrievable satellite module. It returned to Earth on Monday, landing in inner Mongolia.
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