Future Space Exploration and Off-Earth Medicine: A New Scientist Live Discussion on Space 2075

This New Scientist live discussion at the Royal Society brings together British astronaut Helen Sharman, biomedical engineer Irena DiGiulio, and Bioorbit CEO Katie King to explore space travel in the coming decades. Topics include the physiological and psychological effects of space, the potential for autonomous drug production in orbit, and how disability and accessibility could reshape astronaut selection and mission design. The conversation also covers near-term experiments like crystallizing antibodies in space and the pros and cons of human versus robotic presence in space, with a vision of a Space 2075 that includes Mars exploration and wider scientific use of microgravity.

Overview and Context

The New Scientist live event at the Royal Society gathers three prominent voices to discuss the trajectory of space travel and its intersections with medicine, disability, and technology. The panel includes Helen Sharman, the first British astronaut who flew on a Soyuz mission in 1991 for seven days, Irena DiGiulio a biomedical engineer at King’s College London, and Katie King, CEO of Bioorbit a company pursuing drug manufacturing in space. They ground their discussion in the Royal Society’s Space 2075 report, which outlines a 50-year horizon for space exploration, and then explore what that horizon means for human physiology, medical science, and societal norms on Earth. The dialogue moves from personal experience to organizational strategy, from microgravity science to large scale space infrastructure, and from space as a laboratory to space as a home for sustained human presence.