Mouse embryos have been grown on the International Space Station and developed normally in the first study indicating it could be possible for humans to reproduce in space, a group of Japanese scientists said.
but the cost of launching all that into space has got to be the vast majority of the cost of money and time
The cost of what, a few grams of embryos? The marginal cost is basically zero as there are regular resupply flights to the ISS that are already bought and paid for. The frozen embryos would ride up with them.
The real cost is the cost of sending up the mission specialist to run the experiment and as I said the person who ran this experiment is not the person you need to run the experiment you are talking about.
First experiment: This is a pretty simple one, place frozen samples in machine bring them up to temp, let develop for four days, refreeze and send back to earth. Some for analysis and other to implant into a host mother, grow to term on earth and see if early microgravity had any effect on development.
If this shows good results. Move on to the next step.
Possible next experiment: Send pregnant mouse to station, and return once the babies are born. Test for issues.
The cost of what, a few grams of embryos? The marginal cost is basically zero as there are regular resupply flights to the ISS that are already bought and paid for. The frozen embryos would ride up with them.
The real cost is the cost of sending up the mission specialist to run the experiment and as I said the person who ran this experiment is not the person you need to run the experiment you are talking about.
First experiment: This is a pretty simple one, place frozen samples in machine bring them up to temp, let develop for four days, refreeze and send back to earth. Some for analysis and other to implant into a host mother, grow to term on earth and see if early microgravity had any effect on development.
If this shows good results. Move on to the next step.
Possible next experiment: Send pregnant mouse to station, and return once the babies are born. Test for issues.