Man's ambitions for space colonization did not stop with the end of the Apollo missions. If since then no human has been sent to deep space, today several manned missions are again under development, with the Moon and Mars as main destinations. But scientists are thinking about the longer term and have already begun to propose solutions to ensure manned missions of several thousand years to distant systems. And among these solutions is embryonic colonization.
The colonization of systems hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of years away from Earth is a recurring theme in science fiction. In most cases, the vessels staged are dormant vessels, that is to say carrying an adult human crew in hibernation or cryostasis (cryo-sleep), destined to wake up once arrived at their destination. Although this scenario is also proposed by scientists, other solutions have been proposed.
This is particularly the case of embryonic colonization. In this model of space colonization, an autonomous robotic mission is sent to a habitable planet, carrying on board cryogenic human embryos or the biosynthetic technology necessary to create human embryos once there.
This scenario is primarily based on artificial intelligence and robotics. Once arrived at the chosen destination, autonomous robots must build the first facilities and start growing/creating food. If the planet and the on-board technological resources allow it, said planet can first be terraformed in order to create an environment and an atmosphere favorable to human and animal life.
Current medicine already allowing to maintain human embryos at different stages of development in cryopreservation, this solution would be the simplest to bring embryos from Earth to the targeted planet. However, there is always a risk that these embryos will be damaged or destroyed during the journey. To remedy this, the preferred solution, but also more technologically complex, would be to take only the biological material (spermatozoa, eggs) in order to create embryos only once there.
As a result, the embryos must be able to continue their development. The only viable solution in this model is the use of artificial uteri. Such devices already exist and have been successfully tested for sheep embryos as well as human embryos. However, these tests have only shown success for extremely short periods on humans (prohibition on the use of artificial uteri beyond 14 days, for ethical reasons) and are not yet truly operational for such a scenario.
The concept of embryonic colonization has many advantages, including that of not requiring hibernation of fully developed human bodies, a technology that scientists are certainly working on, but which perhaps will never be possible. In addition, systems for maintaining basic biological functions would be needed throughout the journey, while an entire human body is much more exposed to the risks of a long journey than embryos or biological material.
However, the model also has difficulties. First of all, the autonomous robots intended to build the base(s) of the settlers could not be embarked as is, this would create too much waste of space. They must therefore be able to build themselves with materials on board or present on site. And it is currently impossible to say whether such technology will see the light of day in the future.
The advantage of bringing adult settlers directly is that they already possess all the societal aspects of human civilization:art, science, culture, language and life in society. Colonists from embryos should learn all these aspects on the spot and without being able to learn them from other humans (parents, teachers). Therefore, it would be up to artificial intelligence to fulfill this role of artificial parent both by educating children and at the same time by allowing them to acquire a stable and healthy psychology.
Finally, important ethical questions arise. The question of the technical feasibility of raising children without human contact is added to that of the moral feasibility. It is already considered unethical to deliberately “create” children who will have to grow up without parents. Yet that is what such a scenario demands. In addition, on what criteria should the DNA of the on-board biological material be chosen? And what value system should the AI-parent rely on? On earthly values, or should it create and adapt its own values?
