Embryo space colonization
From Freepedia
Embryo space colonization is an interstellar space colonization proposal that involves sending a robotic mission to a terrestrial planet (having a biosphere) that transports frozen early-stage embryos. Fully autonomous robots would build the first settlement on the planet and start growing crops. Thereafter the first embryos could be unfrozen and would develop in artificial wombs. In contrast to a generation ship, an Embryo-carrying Interstellar Starship (EIS) would have feasible small dimensions in the range of today's spaceships.
The EIS concept circumvents the problem of freezing fully developed humans (which is technically not possible today and is regarded by many scientists as never to be possible; see cryonics), instead using the currently available technology to preserve human embryos in a frozen state to overcome the problem of a space voyage of hundreds or thousands of years.
Major obstacles that the plan faces are the development of fully autonomous robots, artificial wombs, and computer hardware that can function over a period of hundreds of years. Furthermore, a propulsion system would be required that could accelerate the EIS to 1% of light speed and slow it down again upon nearing the destination. Finally, the proposal depends on the existence of an exoplanet qualifying for colonization within 100 light years of Earth.
Beside these technical problems, ethical concerns might arise regarding the risk of such a project and the number of embryos needed to colonize another planet, as well as the settlers' potential quality of life and lack of informed consent. Also, it is highly unlikely that the babies born would develop to normal humans in the hands of robots, and would therefore probably not be able to develop a colony as such, or contribute to scientific research.
Examples in fiction
- James P. Hogan's novel Voyage from Yesteryear features a planet that was colonized many generations ago by an automated ship bearing frozen embryos, and is now being visited by a more advanced interstellar spacecraft capable of carrying an adult crew.
- Jack Williamson's Manseed has as a protagonist one of the robots responsible for protecting and assisting colonists created on a new planet by an automated "seedship", though in this case the colonists are "born" as full adults and with implanted knowledge recorded from preexisting humans via mind transfer technology.
- In Yukinobu Hoshino's 2001 Nights manga, "Night 4" showcases an interstellar mission where an automated ship bearing frozen embryos is launched with the help of a comet. Two latter chapters, or "Nights," in the series explore what happens to the mission after it touches down on the surface of the destination world.
