Did you know that NASA as one of their plans of manned mission to MARS is considering “cryosleep” ??
Yes, sounds like a science fiction movie, doesn’t it??! True, they are planning to put humans to sleep by using “Suspended Animation” , ie, freezing your body cold enough so that your systems are in a hibernate-mode and waking you up few hours/days before you reach Mars.
They might have gotten the idea of cryogenic freezing from so many resources, stating back from 1812 Brother Grimm’s version of putting snow white to sleep by a poison apple to our very own natural cryogenic species on earth – The Wood Frog. This frog, going by the scientific name “Rana sylvatica”, is a biological miracle reptile which literally freezes itself during winters and can stay that way for almost nine months and reanimates back!
When a frog that’s on this planet could do that, how long do you think it will take for our brilliant scientists to figure it out? We could definitely be very close than we could ever imagine!
So why is NASA planning this? Well, there are lot of things that needs consideration when you are traveling to outer space – for mars, it would take almost 9 months. So, if the astronauts are asleep during the whole trip, a lot of cargo weight and unnecessary time could be saved. NASA has awarded a aerospace company “SpaceWorks” $500, 000 for this project. Click here to read the PDF from NASA’s website if you want an detailed explanation about this – you know, technical stuff!
Oh! This is just ONE of the idea that NASA has for its manned mission to Mars. There are lots more! (And cool ones!) – more on that later!
Alright readers, with this post, I introduce “Fact Fridays” to you all!! Watch out this space on every Friday for interesting, amazing, mind blowing and weird facts! Subscribe now! 😊😊
Cheers,
Halley 💕
Source: Techtimes, DailyMail, MedicalBag
2 Comments
vikram vel
Ain't this cryogenic concept still in baby steps and it might take decades for NASA to execute on that scale…. ? Also with manned Mars mission already started, will the selected crew's body get used to such conditions!!!
Halley Leda
Hello Vikram,
Yes, Cryogenic sleep travel will be executed in three decades from now according to the plan revealed. However, one can only hope its soon!
Regarding your question about the astronaut's body condition – that is always at risk while in space. That is one of the reason NASA, SpaceX are trying to build a suit much more suitable and flexible, as they need to wear them every time they get out on Mar's surface. And the conditions during the travel to Mars, that is going to be much harder. That's why they are weighing options. One of near possible idea is generating centrifugal force (creates artificial gravity) to keep astronaut's feet on ground[space ground ;)] Lets see… 2030 is that not far! 🙂