Flying to Mars in a Freezer Ship

[shynung]

2 years ago, SpaceWorks compiled a report covering a possible method of transporting astronauts to Mars.

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/Bradford_2013_PhI_Torpor.pdf

Short version, SpaceWorks is working on a method to induce hibernation-esque effect on astronauts via induced therapeutic hypothermia, which cools the body by about 15 degrees C. The report says that by using this approach, we can cut down on transfer vehicle habitat mass by about 52% compared to NASA's own Mars DRA 5, at the expense of putting IV plugs in everyone onboard.

What are your opinions?

Edited June 3, 2016 by shynung
Misread the Exec Summary.

[Green Baron]

As far as i understand they lower the body temp. by just 5-10 degrees Fahrenheit. The persons are unconscious. Like a hibernating polar bear or a turtle.

If i'm not totally wrong a frozen body is dead as a fish stick. Frozen cells are badly damaged (water expands, causing them to burst) and if it thaws it'll soon start to .... smell.

 

Edited June 3, 2016 by Green Baron

[PB666]

3 minutes ago, Green Baron said:

As far as i understand they lower the body temp. by just 5-10 degrees Fahrenheit. The persons are unconscious. Like a hibernating polar bear or a turtle.

If i'm not totally wrong a frozen body is dead as a fish stick. Frozen cells are badly damaged (water expands, causing them to burst) and if it thaws it'll soon start to .... smell.

 

Most cells can be frozen with a cryoprotectant, but importantly, neurons cannot. 

As for storing humans at 5 to 10 degrees, even blood cells start to degrade after a small period of time, at that temperature you can expect irreversible detah within 48 hours even with things like lung attachments. 

The answer to the thread is a big NOPE . 

[Green Baron]

Hi,

i hope i didn't get that totally wrong: body temp. is reduced by 5-10 degrees Fahrenheit, the article says something about 32-34 degrees celsius storage :-) temp. That survivable ?

Edit: as far as i understand cooling a body to 34°C has been done before for a few days due for medical application. It's survivable. Doing so for the duration of a journey to mars is a thought but nobody really knows nothing about the outcome and side effects (nutrition, infections, ...).

It's a nice thought but i'm sure if you ask the boss of SpaceWorks he'll reject demonstrating it :-)

Not every bear survives it's hibernation ;-)

 

Edited June 3, 2016 by Green Baron

[Shania_L]

I think the term frozen is not applicable, think of it more as a medically induced coma. The craft is still kept at room-ish temperature but the crew is essentially unconscious the entire trip.

The benefits of this is that you do not need to house or entertain the crew during transit, their metabolic rates are decreased reducing oxygen and calorific requirements. This makes the in-space habitat considerably smaller and simpler it also reduces the stockpile of supplies you need to carry. (You dont need to supply multiple types of food to keep the crew from getting bored of eating the same stuff .. all IV drip nutrients come from a common tank)

The big downside I can see is that it will make muscle wastage an even bigger problem, the minimal effort required to operate a human body in micro gravity has been removed and your crew is essentially completely motionless for 6 months or more.

[Nothalogh]

30 minutes ago, Shania_L said:

I think the term frozen is not applicable, think of it more as a medically induced coma. The craft is still kept at room-ish temperature but the crew is essentially unconscious the entire trip.

The benefits of this is that you do not need to house or entertain the crew during transit, their metabolic rates are decreased reducing oxygen and calorific requirements. This makes the in-space habitat considerably smaller and simpler it also reduces the stockpile of supplies you need to carry. (You dont need to supply multiple types of food to keep the crew from getting bored of eating the same stuff .. all IV drip nutrients come from a common tank)

The big downside I can see is that it will make muscle wastage an even bigger problem, the minimal effort required to operate a human body in micro gravity has been removed and your crew is essentially completely motionless for 6 months or more.

It's more than a coma, the idea is generally to cool the body to just above freezing, around 34 deg Fahrenheit.

Combining this approach with a fully powered circulatory system and dialysis, would allow the long term storage of humans, as metabolism is reduced to a fraction of normal.

As for calling it freezing, no, it's definitely not. It's refrigeration and artificial circulation, nutrient delivery, and waste removal.

Edited June 3, 2016 by Nothalogh

[kerbiloid]

Without medical personnel and clinical facilities around?

Sounds like the pilot episode of "The Walking Dead" when Rick gets out of coma.

[shynung]

Okay, yeah, it's not actually a freezer ship. More like refrigerator ship.

Also, the medical personnel was supposed to stay on Earth, giving instructions to the robot arm operator (or Be the robot arm operator) that takes care of the sleeping payload. I have concerns about reaction time, though, due to the lightspeed lag.