Hibernating astronauts would need smaller spacecraft

phys.org ^ | November 18, 2019 | European Space Agency

[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."

[DouglasKC]

Basically an induced coma.

[BenLurkin]

Sounds risky

[dhs12345]

Here ya go. Here is a similar process but the same general idea.

Also, maybe you can hold the water molecules in suspension while the rest of the body matter cools.

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2015/cp/c5cp00476d#!divAbstract