Outer-space sex carries complications

The issue of what happens after sex is, if anything, more crucial for those concerned about future generations of spacefarers. The animal studies conducted so far indicate that the "absence of gravity loading would cause all kinds of problems" for fetal development, Logan said.

For example, Russian studies with pregnant rats showed a 13 to 17 percent arrest in the development of nearly every area of the fetal skeleton in zero-G, he said. Logan also noted that the proper formation of neural connections — a process that continues even after birth — requires movement under gravity loading. Immune functions are also compromised in microgravity.

Logan isn't worried so much about the early weeks of pregnancy, but he said studies have shown that gravity should play a significant role for human fetuses after about 26 weeks of gestation.

"This has significant implications for the colonization of the solar system," he said. Multigenerational life might be impossible without at least some gravity.

As an alternative, future space settlers might create artificial gravity — say, on spinning spacecraft like the wheel-like space station portrayed in "2001: A Space Odyssey."

How much gravity?
So how much gravity is enough? The one-sixth gravity of the moon, or the one-third gravity of Mars? So far, no one knows, Logan said.

"We still do not have an inkling of what the 'gravity prescription' is," he said. "Think of gravity as a medication. We don't know the dose, we don't know the frequency, and we don't know the side effects."

Cosmic radiation in the space environment is another worry surrounding fetal development in space — and Logan said there may be a synergistic relationship between radiation and the ill effects of zero-G on the fetus. The unknowns are of such great concern that, given the current state of our knowledge, pregnancy in space would be "very dangerous," he said.

The efficacy of oral contraceptives in space is also a subject of concern, Woodmansee said, particularly because studies involving other types of medications indicate that drugs aren't absorbed as readily in space as they are on Earth.

Beyond the romance, more research
Logan as well as Woodmansee called for more research into how biological processes work in reduced-gravity environments — not just in the near-weightlessness of the international space station, but also on research satellites that can reproduce one-third or one-sixth gravity. Only then can scientists figure out how much gravity will be required to keep space-dwelling romantics alive for the next generation.

"If you can't figure out how to 'bioneer,' you're not going anywhere," Logan said.

But if humanity can figure out how to live and reproduce in space, it would represent a giant leap — not only for lovers, but for evolution as well, Woodmansee said.

"Our children and our grandchildren, et cetera, will be space aliens," she said. "They will change how humans are. They will be different from us in some way. Maybe if we are really going to go into space, these are good adaptations, but they're going to be painful, I think, in any case. It's disturbing, but it's something that we need to think about if we are truly going to be a spacefaring civilization and settle the galaxy."

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