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Long-term cryogenic and hibernative sleep may be the key to getting humans to Mars — and beyond. But with research and funding active concerns, it may first come to a spa near you.
Our bodies aren't meant for space. It's heartbreaking for science fiction fans to hear, but it's also a self-evident fact. Our bodies require too much maintenance to speed through the stars. We need a steady supply of those things absent from space —namely water, food and oxygen. We crave warmth but won't find it in deep space, where the average temperature is minus 455 degrees Fahrenheit.
Even if we could survive in an icy vacuum without sustenance, we'd probably go insane without distractions and room to move. In 2013, participants in a 17-month Russian spaceflight simulation became depressed and lethargic in the cramped quarters. They grew desperate for privacy and often skipped exercises that would be crucial during a real spaceflight.
Ensuring space travellers stay healthy and active during long flights is a puzzle with two pieces: cargo and weight. Food, water, exercise equipment and televisions are heavy. Fuel is expensive and volatile. The more weight you're bringing into space, the more fuel you need. But aeronautic engineers (of SpaceWorks) believe they have found the key to solving that puzzle: put your space travellers to sleep.
https://vanwinkles.com/latest-science-of-cryogenic-sleep-human-hibernation-for-space-travel
[Also Covered By]: http://gizmodo.com/how-traveling-to-deep-space-in-cryogenic-sleep-could-ac-1725605323
[Related Blog]: http://spacetorpor.blogspot.com/
[Related NASA Coverage]: http://www.nasa.gov/content/torpor-inducing-transfer-habitat-for-human-stasis-to-mars/
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 22 2015, @11:43AM
maybe de-volve back from land to water.
water can be used as fuel for a fusion reactor.
it can be used for radiation shielding (like in them 'ol nuke reactors). liquid or solid, whatever.
it can "cushion" a submerged astronaut in scuba gear from high acceleration >30 G no problem!
hmmm ... what else .. ah yes, you can shower/bath in it and you can drink it too!
you can build igloos/housing if the planet is frosty.
sleeping in 36 deg.C water (less caloric intake for body-warm creation)? maybe : )
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 23 2015, @12:55AM
What? Where the hell do you get this from? Put ice in a cup of water, put on a lid, shake it up. Ice breaks up and becomes slush. Put astronaut in water. Slam his container into a wall. Open container. Get new astronaut.
Water is not thixotropic.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 23 2015, @04:34AM
lol!
water ice is lighter then liquid water. if you are perfect buoyant you are not sinking and not rising.
you can put a "perfect buoyant" piece of ice in a bottle, put the bottle in your car and see how it behaves if you accelerate (add more speed -or- brake).
you will see that the ice cube doesn't move in any direction!
coincidentally it is curious that a regular ice cube (which is lighter then water) moves in the direction of acceleration vector, that is, if your car and bottle-with-regular-ice-cube is stoping in front of a red light and it turns green, the icecube will move towards(!) the front ...pulling the car forward lol.
the trick is to be perfectly buoyant!
also, assuming we have a perfectly buoyant astronaut in scuba gear (maybe with lead .. errr ... bismuth weights)
and s/he is floating in a water sphere, once the ship accelerates the new "up" will be the direction of acceleration vector, so the the astronaut
will rotate because as a "closed shape" the scuba-astronaut is not uniformly buoyant.
also for the situation of a spaceship increasing in acceleration from 1 to 30 g, the effect on the scuba-astroanut will be same as diving (on earth) from 1 meter to 30 meter depth (which is do-able).
i hope you are NOT a rocket scientist : P