It is common knowledge that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is obsessed with making humanity an "interplanetary species" through a first step on Mars.
It was also revealed that he was interested in stabilizing the human population due to falling birth rates, to which he recently responded by expressing his intent to donate his sperm to bolster a future Mars colony.
The New York Times first reported about the tech boss's intention to do so after the outlet's multiple interviews with him and internal SpaceX documents quietly directing his staff to investigate how a Mars colony would work.
A vehicle capable of reaching space and surviving Earth and Mars atmospheric entry would first be needed to reach Mars. Currently, SpaceX is developing Starship for such a task.
Elon Musk Urges to Save Human Population
Musk revealed that he wanted to preserve the human race by repopulating the planet after decades of being gradually depopulated due to advances in birth control.
It is understood that he sought to be an example of how to do so by siring a dozen children to date.
VCPost recently reported about Musk's 12 children, the youngest of which was born just a few weeks ago. The mother of the 12th child is alleged to be Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis.
It remains to be seen whether he had more children than the 12 publicly divulged; one of them died in infancy, while another disavowed by changing both name and gender.
This intention to repopulate the planet also brought Musk in trouble with disgruntled female SpaceX employees, some of whom alleged to have had sex with him or were told to have children with him at one point during their career with the company.
It was also recently reported that a former employee revealed that there was a "frat boy" culture in the company, where colleagues joked about getting drunk during rocket launches, as well as perceived sexism.
Possibility of Fertilization, Pregnancy in Space
On the subject of human fertilization and pregnancy in space, University of Nottingham associate professor of reproductive biology Adam Watkins told Business Insider that there is a possibility that sperm could be freeze-dried into space like how coffee is freeze-dried and sealed.
He added that once on Mars, an in-vitro fertilization (IVF) process could be initiated, and the embryos could be transferred to females already established on the red planet.
However, the Martian IVF process would be complicated and risky from then on, as the planet has reduced gravity and is saturated with radiation, which would significantly affect the human body.
NASA deep-space medical expert Dr. Kris Lehnhardt stressed that the possibility of someone becoming pregnant on Mars is unknown.
Aside from Musk, SpaceBorn United is also researching the feasibility of IVF in space, starting with mouse embryos. The firm aims to test IVF procedures on human embryos in space eventually.
Cranfield University professor of space biotechnology and SpaceBorn United researcher David Cullen said that propagating humanity is one of the "big unknowns" in the quest to become interplanetary.
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