China's SJ-10 recoverable satellite revealed that a mammal embryo can develop in outer space, however, it still needs ample time before the human race can actually "colonize" it.

On April 6, China launched the microgravity satellite wherein its return capsule is set to stay in the orbit for a number of days before it goes back to Earth.

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According to China Daily, a professor at the Institute of Zoology affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences pointed out that it surely takes a while before it can be proven that the outer space can be considered a home for humans.

"The human race may still have a long way to go before we can colonize space but, before that, we have to figure out whether it is possible for us to survive and reproduce in outer space like we do on Earth," Duan Enkui, who is also the principal researcher of the study, said.

"Now, we have finally proven that the most crucial step in our reproduction－early embryo development－is possible in outer space," he added.

Meanwhile, Duan explained that "Since space experiments are expensive, no one attempted to develop embryos again in the decade following NASA's failure."

It can be recalled that in 2006, NASA's STS-80 Spacecraft attempted to develop mammalian embryos in space. But, all 49 mouse embryos were successfully developed.

Ten years after, China launched SJ-8, a recoverable satellite, which had four embryos in it. While it was successful in sending high-resolution images of the embryos, it was unfortunate that none of them ever grew.

With the newest satellite which China sent to the outer space earlier this month, it was noted that of the more than 6,000 mouse embryos were on-board the SJ-10, some of them developed into advanced blastocysts in four days' time, something which can be considered as a milestone.

Tagschina, SJ-10, outer space, Recoverable Satellite