[Torino10 (OP)]

I was wondering why so many scientists are interested in going to Mars? If the answer is to establish long term colonies then they may likely be wasting there time, experiments on Skylab, STS 80, and the Chinese satellite J8 involving rats and mouse embryos imply very strongly that mammalian procreation is greatly effected by changes in gravity.

Shouldn't various space agencies be concentrating on sending centrifuges to orbit to determine how much gravity affects embryonic development and if centripetal acceleration can be used as a substitute for gravity, how much is required and at what radii will Coriolis affects be overcome if they have any effect at all.