Hibernating to Mars

Posted by michael on Saturday October 30, 2004 @11:59AM from the you-are-getting-sleeeeepy dept.

neutron_p writes "Manned missions beyond the Moon are no longer wild dreams. NASA plans a manned mission to Mars before 2020. With automatic systems in control, astronauts would face the challenge of living in a confined space with not much to do for an extremely long period. 'Might as well sleep it off!' Studies initiated by ESA have gone one step further. Wouldn't it be nice if astronauts could hibernate! ESA biologists are conducting investigations into the physiological mechanisms that mammals use to hibernate."

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Re:Don't hold your breath... by nzkbuk · 2004-10-30 12:27 · Score: 0, Flamebait

Reliability - ISS crewpeople spend the bulk of their time doing housekeeping/maintenance chores. How are they gonna get a brand-new, untried vehicle to run for a six-month trip each way, without multiple someones keeping an eye on things?

Don't run a certain Redmond OS, Perhaps it might be a good idea to use a *nix one.