Comment Re:Not quite right (Score 1) 724
Regarding incubation:
Really interesting idea, with one major flaw (and one possible solution). When people fly into space, they go through the Van Allen belt (read: radiation that kills all sperm/egg cells). For men, it's not an issue since they will continuously produce more. For women, obviously, they'd be unable to go to mars and reproduce.
HOWEVER, what would happen if you sent a woman who had JUST become pregnant (i.e. 1 month)? Assuming the baby survives (and that it's a female) could the egg cells be produced AFTER the initial radiation exposure? (Or would the child have lots of unfortunate birth defects?)
Otherwise, it would be hard to colonize there.
woot, first slashdot post
Really interesting idea, with one major flaw (and one possible solution). When people fly into space, they go through the Van Allen belt (read: radiation that kills all sperm/egg cells). For men, it's not an issue since they will continuously produce more. For women, obviously, they'd be unable to go to mars and reproduce.
HOWEVER, what would happen if you sent a woman who had JUST become pregnant (i.e. 1 month)? Assuming the baby survives (and that it's a female) could the egg cells be produced AFTER the initial radiation exposure? (Or would the child have lots of unfortunate birth defects?)
Otherwise, it would be hard to colonize there.
woot, first slashdot post