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Hibernating to Mars
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."
ESA To Study Human Hibernation
Posted by timothy on 10:20 AM -- Wednesday August 04 2004
from the that-report-will-be-a-snooze dept.
colonist writes "The European Space Agency (ESA) plans to study human hibernation for long-duration space voyages (a la 'Alien', '2001'). Although 'practical hibernation mechanisms are at least a decade away', ESA researchers will make initial inquiries into DADLE (D-Ala,D-Leu-enkephalin), an opium-like drug that triggers hibernation in ground squirrels and human cells. Other subjects of interest include dobutamine, a drug that maintains muscle, and the Madagascan fat-tailed dwarf lemur, the only primate known to hibernate."
Of course they have, where else do you think they got the idea from? But, the sci-fi hibernation often times is cryogenic. That means all of your body's cells slow down and muscle atrophy isn't a problem. If you don't have that and attempt a sort of chemically induced hibernation where your body's metabolism slows waaaaay down, then you run the risk of atrophy as well as any other type of inaction-caused disease.
One of the problems in space is your body begins to weaken since there is no gravity. That, with the fact that a year of not moving even on earth would make you too weak.. One wonders.
-Eric
Ever see those clips of astronauts constantly exercising? They need to do that keep up their muscles out of atophy. If muscles will atophy for an otherwise active astronaut, don't you think they'll get even worse for a hibernating astronaut?
Slowing down the metabolism slows everything down, including the process of muscle atrophy. You're right, of course, that there's a lot we don't understand about the process -- but if hibernation were the same as bed-rest, then animals that do hibernate would be too weak to move when they woke up. (And yes, being on strict bed-rest for a given period of time produces about the same degree of muscle atrophy and bone density loss as being in microgravity for the same period of time.) Odds are that hibernating astronauts would be in a lot better shape whent they got to Mars than they would be if they were awake the whole time.
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
sorry...
Corrections...
- Can not be declared dead until they are "warm and dead."
- It has always amazed me that so many animals hiberate, but we can not figure out how to translate that into humans.
Trying to watch Ole Miss vs Auburn, UNC vs Miami, and type on slashdot all at one time.
first off, a lot of techology takes longet then10 years to reach market. Smoke detectors are a good example.
t i.nasa.gov/tto/spinselect.htmlc eplace.com/nasa/spinoffs.html
second, there is going to be less, becasue NASA keeps getting there budget slashed
third, Many thing that get to market are inside other products you don't relize.
forth, the answer to your question:
artificial Heart
Automotive Insulation
Balance Evaluation Systems
Bioreactor
Diagnostic Instrument
Gas Detector
Infrared Camera
Infrared Thermometer
Jewelry Design
Land Mine Removal Device
Lifesaving Light
Prosthesis Material
Rescue Tool
Vehicle Tracking System
Video Stabilization Software
more here:
http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/
http://www.s
http://www.thespa
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I'm curious to know the source the submitter had in mind when he stated that NASA is planning a manned mission to Mars before 2020. I have not seen anything like that come out of NASA.
The President's roadmap they recently adopted only had manned missions to the moon resuming by 2020.
There are several possible ways around this:
As to the political will, these things can change very quickly. Imagine if China announced they were going to send a mission to Mars to claim it for China...
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
Dropping cells to a freezing temperature doesn't kill them if they have some kind of anti-freeze in them to prevent actual freezing. Some animals are able to produce natural anti-freeze.