Thoughts on International Day of Human Space Flight

Greetings

Hello.

Today (April 12th) is apparently "International Day of Human Space Flight".

Its origin is

on April 12, 1961,
Soviet cosmonaut
Yuri Gagarin...

It was established to commemorate
the successful launch of
the manned satellite "Vostok 1",
making him the first human to go to space.

His words,
"The Earth was blue"
are known as a famous quote.

Incidentally,
20 years later in 1981,
on that same April 12th...

the Space Shuttle "Columbia",
launched by NASA in the United States,
successfully completed its first space flight.

Can humanity live in space?

As you can see, today is
a memorial day
for "human space flight".

I also write science fiction novels
about "humanity going to space," so...

I would like to talk a little bit
about that today.

Titled,
"Can humanity live in space?"

At this point...
In my view, no.

Unless the environment has gravity comparable to Earth's,
I suspect that living organisms (especially mammals)
would find it difficult even to reproduce.

In actual experiments

In an experiment conducted in 2009
by RIKEN and Hiroshima University
using mice...

Fertilization occurred normally, but
embryonic development and birth rates dropped by about half.

However, it seems the mice that were born
were normal in both appearance and reproductive ability.

As a result of the experiment,

“It indicates that it may be difficult
for mammals to produce offspring on a space station or
a lunar base.”

...is what it means.

Reference link:

Before that, mammals are
sensitive to environmental changes, so
even if you go to the trouble of taking them to space,
it is highly likely they will not mate.

In short,
“Can you have sex in a zero-gravity state?”
...is what it comes down to.

Then why do I write about it?

Because it is science fiction.

In the “future world” of the story,
I assume that a convenient invention has been made.

Titled
“Gravity keep system”.

In reality,
there is a difference between “gravity” and “attraction,”
and “gravity” refers to
the force exerted on objects on Earth, but...

A device that can artificially maintain
this “gravity”-like thing
(as if it were real) in space.

...With that nuance in mind,
I deliberately chose the word
“gravity”.

“Attraction keep system”
feels a bit unclear, and
“attraction generation system”
would be a hackneyed term.

Thanks to the existence of this device,
in the settings of the story such as
“spaceships,” “space stations,”
and also the “lunar surface”...

It has become possible to depict a world
where humanity lives
in a "normal" way.

To tell you the behind-the-scenes story,

regarding the "gravity maintenance device"
that appears in this work...

"Silver Knight 2" Episode 4in
I had the engineer, Dr. Naomi, touch upon it
as follows.

Well, I included some rather
exposition-heavy dialogue here.

However...

I thought that even without writing it explicitly,
just by writing a scene where
"humanity lives normally on the lunar surface"...

"Oh, it's a world where
artificial gravity devices were invented"

...is what I expected many SF readers
would intuit.

"Gravity generators" and "warp navigation" are
the two major elements of space SF, after all.

The fact that "Gundam" dared to exclude them
is what makes it great, and
I think it provided a certain freshness.

Instead, "Gundam" made
the SF setting of "space colonies"
famous.

I call my own novels
"Gundam knock-offs" but...

Instead of deciding not to include
"space colonies",
I brought back
the "gravity generator."

Otherwise,
humanity wouldn't be able to
"live normally" on the lunar surface.