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How it would work
Standard living quarters in a space shuttle would be replaced with a torpor habitat, in which the pressurized volume would be greatly decreased. The chamber would allow for six crew members to coexist in a torpor state simultaneously. A hypothermic state would likely be induced by cooling the body’s core temperature (induced in one of three ways), which would happen slowly over a few hours.
While the crew members are in a hypothermic state, various sensors would be hooked up to them so that their conditions could be monitored. They would receive nutrition intravenously through TPN — total parenteral nutrition. The liquid would contains all the essential elements for a human body to function. In addition, a catheter would be inserted to drain urine. Because no solids are consumed, the digestive system, and therefore the need for bowel function, would be inactive. Electromagnetic muscle stimulation would protect key muscle groups from atrophy.
The crew would be in this medically induced hypothermic state for 14 days at a time, with crew members taking turns being awake for two or three days at a time to ensure the needs of the crew and ship are met.
The benefits of this scenario? A major reduction in consumables due to an inactive crew, a dramatically lower pressurized volume required for living quarters, and the ability to eliminate things like a food galley, exercise equipment, entertainment, et cetera. Indeed, SpaceWorks says the mass of a shuttle with a crew in torpor would be 19.8 tons, less than half the mass of the reference habitat.
Sounds legit as a possibility but I'm no real scientist. What I wanna know is what do the real wizards and scientists of ATS have to say?
originally posted by: Arbitrageur
a reply to: pikestaff
How do bears hibernate? They must deal with this somehow, right? They are mammals like us.
Maybe we need to learn some tricks from them.
The idea probably needs a lot more research.
originally posted by: pikestaff
I really would not want poop in my gut for 14 days, it would either fester, and burst my gut, or turn solid and be extremely difficult to pass, or a mixture of both, unless the last meal was an inert jelly like lubricant to ensure nothing untoward happened while I was 'asleep' and transit was smooth when I was awakened.
originally posted by: Arbitrageur
a reply to: pikestaff
How do bears hibernate? They must deal with this somehow, right? They are mammals like us.
Maybe we need to learn some tricks from them.
The idea probably needs a lot more research.
originally posted by: stormcell
originally posted by: Arbitrageur
a reply to: pikestaff
How do bears hibernate? They must deal with this somehow, right? They are mammals like us.
Maybe we need to learn some tricks from them.
The idea probably needs a lot more research.
Bears build up fat reserve in the Autumn. Then they go into hibernation where body temperature goes down and heart rate slows. By the time that they wake up in Spring, all those fat reserves have been burned off.
originally posted by: stormbringer1701
one of the ideas behind torpor is that the shielded area can be much smaller. This means less mass on the ship. again this results in sticking people in a flying phone booth instead of providing more robust long service life spaceships that people won't fry on or go bat poop crazy.
Freeze Dried Food can last 40 or more years. storage time goes up with lower temperatures and proper humidity. MREs in proper storage can be maintained well above the recommended lifetime. The military does this. they just open random meals or meals known to have storage issues for inspection every once in a while. even regular canned goods and jar stored items can last a century in edible but unappealing form.
originally posted by: samkent
While this sounds promising, it's still not viable.
If the mission length dictates 14 stasis periods then you are looking at a verrrry long mission.
That puts long term food storage higher up the list.
Just how long can you store foods?
Even MRE's can get nasty after 5 years.