Fertility on Mars with Dr. Shawna Pandya

Imagine we've landed on Mars, set up shop, and are absolutely thriving.

Now what?

It’s a question that rarely gets asked. We spend countless hours talking about rockets, habitats, food production, and surviving the journey to the Red Planet—but if humanity truly plans to build permanent settlements beyond Earth, another challenge inevitably awaits us: creating the next generation.

In this episode of Everyday Mars, returning guest Dr. Shawna Pandya—physician, neuroscientist, commercial astronaut, analog astronaut, and one of the world’s leading experts in space medicine—joins us to explore the fascinating science and ethics of reproduction beyond Earth.

Together we examine why fertility and pregnancy have remained one of the biggest blind spots in human spaceflight, what decades of research have (and haven’t) taught us, how reduced gravity and radiation may affect pregnancy and fetal development, and why Mars forces us to rethink everything from prenatal care to emergency medicine.

We also explore IVF on Mars, genetic screening, the possibility of future Martians evolving differently than humans on Earth, whether astronauts should even be allowed to become pregnant during early settlements, and what the birth of the very first Martian child could mean for the future of our species.

It’s one of the most thought-provoking conversations we’ve ever had on the podcast—and a reminder that becoming a multi-planetary civilization isn’t just about learning how to survive on another world.

It’s about learning how to build a future there.

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• International Space Station Integrated Medical Group (IMG) Medical Checklist (p. 418) - https://newspaceeconomy.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/163533main_iss_med_cl.pdf

• Walking Through Elephant Cancer Resistance: What it can teach us about elephants, genetics and disease defenses - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/378443177_Walking_Through_Elephant_Cancer_Resistance_What_it_can_teach_us_about_elephants_genetics_and_disease_defenses
• Open Label, Dose Escalation, Repeat Dose Study Evaluating YCT-529 in Healthy Males - https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06542237
• Understanding how space travel affects the female reproductive system to the Moon and beyond - https://www.nature.com/articles/s44294-024-00009-z#citeas
• Microgravity promotes osteoclast activity in medaka fish reared at the international space station - https://www.nature.com/articles/srep14172

A huge thank you Dr. Shawna Pandya for joining me today and sharing her time, expertise, and passion for one of the most fascinating (and important) questions we’ll have to answer before humanity becomes a multi-planetary species. And of course, thank you to Nick Thorburn for the stellar theme music, Ceci Giglio for the incredible graphics, Jero Squartini for the amazing animations, to RDan, Leila, Inka, and Carl for admining the Facebook group, and to my family for supporting this project