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 ...
Human waste used to make ‘Marmite-like’ food for astronauts
'Microbial goo' could feed people on lengthy space missions to Mars and beyond"
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.
</chuckle>
Best laugh of the day!
I never saw that in a movie...
She sbould have spaced him for that.
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?
It all went downhill after HAL realized Bowman was too slow to catch him cheating at chess.
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!
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.
But you have the limits of room for picanick baskets, and having to launch in Winter...
Who knew he was prophetic?
Other than, “Because we can” there is no reason to send people to Mars. Maybe after a few centuries after we terraform the place.
Good point!
DANGGG!
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.
*ping*
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