Another technology from science fiction can find its real embodiment, and at the same time much earlier than promised in the boldest predictions of futurists. Space missions into deep space can take years to reach their destination, and humans are simply not equipped for such travel. Therefore, the aerospace company SpaceWorks, with financial support from the aerospace agency NASA, is developing a solution to this issue. It is planned to test the new technology as part of a relatively short flight to Mars, which takes several months.
Just imagine a situation in which three or four people are imprisoned for several months in a room the size of a small room, and after completing the assigned task, they have to return to this room again and stay in it for several months, languishing from the lack of opportunities for something take. If you are now thinking about some newfangled reality show that pushes the participants to kill each other, then you are not far from the truth. These are the problems and space constraints that astronauts will face when flying into deep space. Just imagine that on this trip, for example, people get into a serious fight.
But these are far from all the problems that will have to be faced. For example, no less surprising is the amount of resources required to deliver, say, six people to Mars. NASA calculated that in this case, a spacecraft with 380 cubic meters of living space and a weight of 28 tons would be required. The six hungry astronauts will need 13,000 kilograms of provisions for the entire round trip. But if stasis technology is used within the same flight, then not only will it be possible to significantly reduce the amount of food needed, but also significantly reduce the total weight of the launch vehicle and spacecraft, as well as the amount of fuel they consume.
What is stasis? This is a condition in which all metabolic processes in the body are slowed down as much as possible. The process is more like hibernating the body than something more sci-fi like cryosleep. But the fact is that the human body does not have a natural possibility of hibernation, however, a person can be artificially placed in a state close to hibernation. Moreover, this technology already exists and is actively practiced in medicine. True, it is called a little differently - an artificial coma. Usually, a person is introduced into this state after receiving serious injuries in order to allow the body, without wasting its energy on other metabolic processes, to direct it to self-healing.
While in this state, the astronauts will receive all the necessary nutrients and elements intravenously. However, practice shows that parenteral nutrition (it is also intravenous) with long-term use can cause a number of very serious problems. It is the solution of these issues that SpaceWorks will be engaged in. But the ability to introduce a person into a stasis state is much closer than one might think before.
NIKOLAY KHIZHNYAK