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 ...
“Why don’t we spend the money on earth to explore and solve problems?”
You know how many politicians that would push off the gravy train?
I imagine you could put in a port for nutrition and similar “ports” for waste.
From March 23 - April 14, I was at York Hospital (PA) was was fed thru left neck vein, and had saline solution in right neck vein, 4 antibiotic IVs in arms, for severe-acute pancreatitis (was in Oncology Wing as they initially thought it was cancer), and lost 134lbs (down from 265 to 131). Never went #2 the whole 23 days, so you’re right.
Then, 11 days in PSU-Hershey Hospital for a stomach bleed from stent thru stomach into grapefruit-sized cyst on pancreas, to drain large cyst on adjacent pancreas. 15 ERCP Endoscopy operations, 2 MRIs, 11 CT-Scans. Lost another 18lbs in Hershey. Never went #2 there either.
All I had was 4 cups of ice chips/day in both hospitals, in addition to nutrients, micro-nutrients in left neck vein, saline solution in right neck vein to bypass inflamed pancreas and stomach.
Too much info; sorry.
Yeah I would be careful with a government agency saying they are putting seniors in “hibernation”. As soon as your kids have left your facility, the soylent Green truck pulls up.
“ports”
That’s what I had in both sides of my neck, in Post #63:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3794776/posts?page=63#63
It is actually the hydrogen (protons) in the water that does the shielding. Paraffin wax, polyethylene, and similar compounds are also good neutron shielding materials.
Wow. My wife in chemo for Pan Can, so she has a port. For all the crap they put in and take out, the port is a God’s send.
I am glad yours was “only” pancreatitis. No one should go down this road.
Everything wrong with “Passengers” in 16 minutes of less.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz_gA1IjDW4
Has to be a similar mass to a neutron. Hydrogen in water does this.
Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And was the outcome worth it?
And would ‘heavy water’ be noticeably more efficient?
Those 2 ports certainly were; each could take 3 tubes.
God Bless your Mrs; I hope she pulls thru it.
I died 2x in York Hospital, and they brought me back both times; once in the OR and once in my private room.
The pancreas has since stopped working, so I’m now a Type 1 Diabetic, blood tests and 2 types of insulin, 4x/day. But I’m up to 170lbs now and although I’m “still in God’s Waiting Room”, He hasn’t called me in yet.
“Space” problems are almost always the same problems we have on Earth.
Take the subject of this post: long term induced comas.
That is an Earth problem: solving it will lead to saving of lives here, on Earth.
Yes, we can chill them down for a few days but longer is to put it mildly, a bit problematic.
Impressive! Well, alright dude, carry on!
Hoping your load gets lighter.
Wait, I’ve seen this movie before. If you actually do this...you wake up on a planet full of talking monkeys. You like talking monkeys? This...this is how you get talking monkeys!
Will keep all of you and yours in my prayers.
“And how will they be placed into this state of torpor?”
Continuous looped recordings of the collected speeches of The Won, the Pantsuit Princess and Princess Gray Beaver.
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