In order to use future technologies to allow its astronauts to sleep or rest for the majority of their journey, NASA is investing in an experiment to explore animal hibernation in microgravity.
On lengthy journeys to remote locations like Mars, the technology may help maintain health and save resources.
The theory is based on the knowledge that human health can be negatively impacted by microgravity, and that the longer astronauts spend in these environments, the more questions may surface.
In ideal circumstances, a trip to Mars, for instance, would require at least six months.
Many creatures on Earth hibernate, essentially resting for months at a time to survive winter (although to varying degrees), including hedgehogs and bears.
According to the notion, if scientists could harness such power, they could be able to enable people to slip into deep slumber or rest over the lengthy months spent traveling to Mars or beyond in spacecrafts.
However, no research has been done on the impact of microgravity on animal hibernation, which is a crucial subject NASA must address before attempting anything akin to this with humans.
NASA is funding an experiment named “Studying Torpor in Animals for Space-health in Humans,” which is being developed at the University of Colorado, Boulder’s BioServe Space Technologies College of Engineering and Applied Science.
The biotech company Fauna Bio Inc. and Ryan Sprenger are taking the
The rodents’ oxygen consumption, heart rate, and metabolism will all be monitored while they are there. When the trial is over, the researchers will investigate whether or not the animals’ loss of bone and muscle mass—a consequence of living in microgravity—was prevented by hibernating.
“Human synthetic torpor could act as a relevant countermeasure that would change everything for space exploration,” according to Sprenger in the proposal.
“Studies conducted with STASH will be a crucial initial step in gaining basic understanding of how hibernation can reduce the health hazards associated with space travel,” said Sprenger, hinting at the possibility that in the future, medications that replicate hibernation’s protective qualities might be created.
The development of biomimetic pharmacological countermeasures and the infrastructure required to support torpor-enabled human astronauts on interplanetary journeys would benefit from this understanding.
