Christopher Nolan's Interstellar movie shows astronauts being placed in deep sleep during space travel. While the film was a work of fiction, what it depicts could one day become a reality as scientists now are mulling applying hibernation-like techniques in future space explorations.
Leopold Summerer, from the European Space Agency's advanced concepts team, has in fact said that this could happen within our lifetimes.
"It doesn't mean we will have hibernating astronauts anytime soon, but we are learning from nature how to understand some of the things that happen to animals during hibernation, such as preventing bone loss or preventing muscle loss," Summerer said. "This is already something that would be a great benefit for long-distance spaceflight."
Putting astronauts in deep sleep offers a number of benefits, which includes reduction in their consumption of food, water and generation of less waste. It would also make smaller living quarters and fewer amounts of supplies more feasible. Hibernation could also lessen the psychological impact on the crew members.
Inspired by how animals hibernate, scientists have unlocked the secrets of hibernation, and this has already been applied in experimental medical therapies such as therapeutic hypothermia, a process that involves dropping a person's body temperature for several days at a time. It is used to help treat individuals with traumatic brain injuries.
Doctors use ice packs, caps, cooling IV fluids and liquid-filled blankets to decrease patients' temperature from 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit to between 89.6 to 91.4 for up to three days.
Now, scientists look at the possibilities of astronauts being kept in sleep-like states for weeks by dropping their body temperatures. Trials that seek to find out if freezing a person for a weeks is OK are now underway.
Twin astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly will be involved in a NASA study that will study the effects of being in space for a long period and which will determine ways on how to protect humans from harm. Scott Kelly recently began a year-long stint aboard the ISS while his twin, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, is on Earth.
Scientists have also been looking at the biology of animals to find answers. They observed the Arctic ground squirrel which can have an internal body temperature of 90 degrees during winter. They found that the molecule known as A1 adenosine receptor helps the animal. They also conducted studies on bears that hibernate for half of the year.
"We think that if we understand how they do it, we can replicate it in humans," said University of Alaska at Fairbanks biochemist Kelly Drew.
Photo: NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center | Flickr
