Scientists believe sex in space will play a major role in further space exploration

There's a new great space race on the cards.

But rather than sending a man to the moon, this one is focused on sex without gravity.

With a renewed focus on space exploration and travel by billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Richard Branson, scientists have been left scratching their heads at whether humans would be able to reproduce in space.

The research is only in the preliminary stages, but could provide vital information for further exploration.

Translational Research Institute for Space Health scientific lead Gary Strangman said sex and self-sustainability in space will become more important as humans attempt to send life on Mars and beyond.

"It has been [more than] 20 years since the last systematic experiments on vertebrate reproduction and development in spaceflight," he told Axios.

"Yet we are now actively planning missions and building rockets to reach the Moon and Mars. Reproduction will almost certainly be relevant to a three-year mission to Mars. And we don't want to discover serious adverse effects by accident."

To mitigate these risks scientists have been testing with frozen sperm and mice.

Bezos' impressive rocket. Photo / Getty Images

study published, in Science Advances, last June found that freeze-dried sperm from mice sent to the International Space Station was not adversely affected by the environment in low-earth orbit.

The sperm was later used to produce mice pups back on earth.

Researchers were concerned about the amount of radiation in space but that did not appear to be a factor in this study.

Preliminary studies have shown that radiation can get worse as humans push towards far-flung destinations like Mars.

Jeff Bezos was very excited after his trip to space. Photo / Blue Origin

There are also concerns over the impacts of gravity – as it may physically rearrange the cells in an embryo.

Some studies have been proposed to further dissect issues associated with self-sustainability in space, the effects of space on women's reproduction and the impacts of radiation.

It comes after a year where major leaps were made in the commercialisation of space.

Last July, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin's New Shepard took its first paying customer on a suborbital ride on a privately owned spaceship.

Bezos is not the only billionaire pushing the commercial spaceflight revolution, with British billionaire Richard Branson taking to the skies in Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo rocket plane in July – just days before Bezos.