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NASA researchers are developing an innovative way that will significantly reduce the cost of human missions to To Mars. It is planned that the crew will be delivered to the Red Planet in a state of deep sleep.
Anabiosis will slow down metabolic processes in the body of astronauts. This state can be achieved using existing medical procedures, it also sometimes happens naturally in case of hypothermia.
“Therapeutic suspended animation has been developed since the 1980s, and in 2003 year he began to be used in medicine to help patients with critical injuries, said aerospace engineer Mark Schaffer (Mark Schaffer) during the International Astronomical Congress in Toronto. – In most large medical centers special equipment for induction has already been installed therapeutic hypothermia. It keeps you alive patients until they get what they need treatment. ”
Transit to Mars at best will take 180 days, i.e. about six months (and this is one way). It is planned that the crew will put into hibernation for this period, and the delivery of nutrients to the body will be administered intravenously. True for real moment medicine can keep a person alive suspended animation for about one week.
“Previously there was no need to keep someone in therapeutic suspended animation for longer than seven days, explains Schaffer. – But now, for the implementation of human missions to Mars, we must strive increase that time to 90, and then to 180 days. ”
In fact, from an economic point of view, the benefits of this The shipping methods are quite impressive. For example, a crew may be in very small courts with fewer amenities, equipment, water, food and clothing.
The SpaceWorks project also plans to create low gravity rotating medium in which there will be being travelers: this should reduce the negative effects of lack of gravity on bones and compensate for the loss muscle mass.
NASA-funded SpaceWorks project team calculations showed: in case of successful implementation of the project five times is possible reduction in the size of the necessary space for hibernation, as well as three-fold reduction in the total amount of cargo, including necessary supplies (e.g. food and water).
In general, the introduction of ship crew members into a state of suspended animation should reduce the basic requirements of the mission from 400 tons to 220 tons
It is planned that the cooling of the bodies will be carried out using intranasal system. Schaffer admits that this is not very convenient. However, inhaling the refrigerant has several advantages over reducing body temperatures from the outside (in particular, with such cooling tissue damage).
The existing intranasal RhinoChill system, which reduces the human body temperature by about 17 degrees Celsius per hour. Achievement of a state of numbness (between 31.6 and 33.8 degrees) takes about six hours.
Stopping the flow of coolant should remove a person from state of suspended animation. However, it will take quite a while, and scientists believe that it is necessary to include special warming pads that help speed up the process of awakening in in case of any emergency.
An alternative is waking one member crew within 2-3 days (later it will be covered in the next 14 days). Now scientists suggest that not one the person will not be in a state of suspended animation during the trip more than 14 days at a time. And, as always, there will be at least one person who will follow the ship and spend scientific experiments.
Schaffer also pointed out significant psychological benefits. such a system: instead of being in a closed space as much as 180 days, a person travels most of the time will hold in a dream.
Now researchers are planning a series of additional studies that confirm that such a prolonged state suspended animation will not cause significant harm to the health of space travelers.
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