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Hibernating astronauts would need smaller spacecraft
phys.org ^ | November 18, 2019 | European Space Agency

Posted on 11/18/2019 1:24:56 PM PST by BenLurkin

They took as their reference an existing mission study to send six humans to Mars and back in a five year timescale.

The study found the spacecraft mass could be reduced by a third by removing the crew quarters with a similar reduction in consumables, equivalent to several tons of saved mass. Hibernation would take place in small individual pods that would double as cabins while the crew are awake.

The assumption was that a drug would be administered to induce "torpor"—the term for the hibernating state. Like hibernating animals, the astronauts would be expected to acquire extra body fat in advance of torpor. Their soft-shell pods would be darkened and their temperature greatly reduced to cool their occupants during their projected 180-day Earth-Mars cruise.

Radiation exposure from high-energy particles is a key hazard of deep space travel, but because the hibernating crew will be spending so much time in their hibernation pods, then shielding—such as water containers—could be concentrated around them. And existing research into hibernation shows it gives enhanced radiation protection in its own right.

"For a while now hibernation has been proposed as a game-changing tool for human space travel," explains SciSpacE Team Leader Jennifer Ngo-Anh. "If we were able to reduce an astronaut's basic metabolic rate by 75% – similar to what we can observe in nature with large hibernating animals such as certain bears—we could end up with substantial mass and cost savings, making long-duration exploration missions more feasible.

"And the basic idea of putting astronauts into long-duration hibernation is actually not so crazy: a broadly comparable method has been tested and applied as therapy in critical care trauma patients and those due to undergo major surgeries for more than two decades."

(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: 2001; hibernation; jenniferngoanh; planetoftheapes; scifi
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To: BenLurkin

21 posted on 11/18/2019 1:42:20 PM PST by tellw (ed)
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To: BenLurkin
Sh@t, it's what's for dinner!

Human waste used to make ‘Marmite-like’ food for astronauts

'Microbial goo' could feed people on lengthy space missions to Mars and beyond"

22 posted on 11/18/2019 1:45:10 PM PST by Karl Spooner
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To: BenLurkin

There was and article a few day ago that pointed to major circulation problems after being in no gravity conditions for and extended period of time. If seems that blood clots can form as well.


23 posted on 11/18/2019 1:46:03 PM PST by Revel
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To: ShackledNoMore

</chuckle>
Best laugh of the day!


24 posted on 11/18/2019 1:52:23 PM PST by Carriage Hill (A society grows great when old men plant trees, in whose shade they know they will never sit.)
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To: BenLurkin
If I wake up early can I bring a hot girl out of hibernation so we can live together while everyone else sleeps?

I never saw that in a movie...

25 posted on 11/18/2019 1:53:01 PM PST by jeffc (The U.S. media are our enemy)
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To: jeffc

She sbould have spaced him for that.


26 posted on 11/18/2019 1:55:41 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: BenLurkin

Send in the robots. Other than going to Mars, deep space is now impossible unless they can figure out how to fold space and travel through the worm holes.

As far as Mars goes, there is a guy who has solved the problem of going there in half the time NASA has figured. He wants to tether two space craft together and set them spinning to simulate gravity. The longer the tether the more the gravity? I dont know..faster spin for sure, but a faster spin would be more dangerous?


27 posted on 11/18/2019 1:55:55 PM PST by crz
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To: dp0622
"I wonder where that waste would end up in a few hundred million years."


28 posted on 11/18/2019 1:58:06 PM PST by Boogieman
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To: cgbg

It all went downhill after HAL realized Bowman was too slow to catch him cheating at chess.


29 posted on 11/18/2019 1:59:07 PM PST by Boogieman
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To: BenLurkin
As long as someone doesn't wake up and eat all the food.


30 posted on 11/18/2019 1:59:21 PM PST by ImJustAnotherOkie (All I know is The I read in the papers.)
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To: BenLurkin

Yeah, but then she’d still be out of hibernation for the rest of her life, but stuck being alone.

Better to marry him so she could entertain herself by tormenting him forever!


31 posted on 11/18/2019 2:01:42 PM PST by Boogieman
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To: Telepathic Intruder

And we are mostly made up of water.

How about some additive to water that prevents is from expanding when it freezes. Or maybe some kind of electrical or magnetic force, or EM force? A microwave seems to be a the natural resonance frequency of the water molecule. Can you hold the water molecule in “a state” at or below freezing while applying a microwave source. Seems like you might be able to change the transition point not by adding energy but preventing the water molecule from moving.


32 posted on 11/18/2019 2:03:46 PM PST by dhs12345
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To: BenLurkin

But you have the limits of room for picanick baskets, and having to launch in Winter...

33 posted on 11/18/2019 2:05:51 PM PST by mrsmith (Dumb sluts: Lifeblood of the Media, Backbone of the Democrat/RINO Party!)
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To: Karl Spooner
I remember Donovan had a song decades ago called "Intergalactic Laxative." One line went "If sh_tting is your problem when you're out there in the stars, the Intergalactic Laxative will get you from here to Mars."

Who knew he was prophetic?

34 posted on 11/18/2019 2:07:12 PM PST by IronJack
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To: BenLurkin

Other than, “Because we can” there is no reason to send people to Mars. Maybe after a few centuries after we terraform the place.


35 posted on 11/18/2019 2:08:25 PM PST by FatherofFive (Islam is EVIL and needs to be eradicated)
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To: Boogieman

Good point!


36 posted on 11/18/2019 2:11:04 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: Boogieman

DANGGG!


37 posted on 11/18/2019 2:11:07 PM PST by shotgun
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To: dhs12345
Anti-South prjhudice…
The South solved this long ago.


38 posted on 11/18/2019 2:12:11 PM PST by mrsmith (Dumb sluts: Lifeblood of the Media, Backbone of the Democrat/RINO Party!)
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To: ShackledNoMore
"NASA has already solved the problem human waste.
Several years ago they contracted with the DNC and they
collect all human waste and then resell it to
the mainstream media."

I hear San Francisco is collecting it so they can
dump it on their city's sidewalks. It's part of
San Francisco's plan to become a Third World dump.

39 posted on 11/18/2019 2:21:04 PM PST by StormEye
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To: SunkenCiv

*ping*


40 posted on 11/18/2019 2:22:02 PM PST by fieldmarshaldj (Dear Mr. Kotter, #Epsteindidntkillhimself - Signed, Epstein's Mother)
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