Dutch breakthrough: first steps toward IVF in space
Eindhoven startup SpaceBorn has a world first: a successful test lab for IVF procedures has been launched into orbit.
Published on June 11, 2025
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Last week, SpaceBorn United, an Eindhoven-based startup, successfully launched its first mini-laboratory for in vitro fertilization (IVF) and embryo processes in orbit. With this technologically advanced capsule, the company is testing an essential prototype: a compact incubator that enables human reproduction-or at least the first stage of it-in space. This step, carried out aboard a SpaceX rocket, was officially celebrated at TU/e's Qubit building.
SpaceBron was founded in 2017 by Egbert Edelbroek. The platform conducts scientific research and translates its results into space missions and biotech devices. Dutch breakthrough: first steps toward IVF in space
CTO Angelo Vermeulen (TU Delft) emphasized that the system operated stably, with temperature, atmospheric pressure, and incubation conditions remaining within the predetermined norms throughout the mission. This laid the foundation for future experiments, including fertilization and early embryonic development in microgravity.
Mouse embryo experiments
Next phase: In 2026, SpaceBorn United plans to conduct mouse embryo experiments, pre-fertilized on Earth, for further development in space. Not with the standard large rockets, but through more flexible, small-scale partners such as Sidereus and Skyroot. All with a view to ARTIS (“Assisted Reproductive Technology in Space”): a fully automated IVF system in space.
This breakthrough puts SpaceBorn Netherlands at the forefront of one of the most complex and ethically sensitive areas of space research, bringing us one step closer to potential human reproduction in space and potentially valuable applications for IVF on Earth. Meanwhile, the company serves as a hub between astrobiologists, fertility experts, ethicists, lawyers, satellite and space mission developers, and spacecraft manufacturers. The plan is to enable all stages of pregnancy in space, with the ultimate goal of delivering a baby in space.
Funding from space nations and IVF sector
There is strong interest from the IVF sector in funding the missions. While infertility is a growing problem - one in six couples face it - the industry is struggling to improve the success of treatments. Edelbroek: "There has been no real improvement for about a decade. For the industry, the outcomes of our research are highly valuable. Several factors come into play during the treatment process. The fluid in which the embryo is developing, as well as different levels of radiation and gravity, affect the epigenetics and resilience of the embryos. All knobs that are much harder to turn in this light on Earth than in space. Moreover, IVF on Earth is mostly manual, whereas we want to automate it fully."
There is also interest from emerging "space nations. Whereas the space race was once primarily a competition between the United States and Russia, many more countries, including China, the European Union, India, and Japan, are now becoming involved. The United Arab Emirates is also eager to establish itself as a space nation. They approached SpaceBorn because they wanted to be associated with the claim of being the first baby processed in space.
Complex mission
One thing is clear: the field in which SpaceBorn moves, both technologically and biologically, is complex. Additionally, the space sector is undergoing rapid change. Where it was once dominated by national agencies, an increasingly large private sector is emerging, in which not everything goes smoothly. For example, a launch company that SpaceBorn had planned to partner with recently went bankrupt. Edelbroek: “It’s not easy to put all the puzzle pieces – getting something to space, designing medical equipment, getting something back to Earth, the financial picture – together.”
Still, he pursues his mission unflinchingly and is full of optimism. “For as long as humanity has existed, it has been exploring and pushing its limits. That has brought us far, but there is still much to discover, and I am convinced that we can contribute to that with SpaceBorn.”