Manned missions to deep space present numerous challenges. In addition to the sheer amount of food, water and air necessary to keep a crew alive for months (or years) at a time, there's also the question of keeping them busy for the entirety of a long-duration flight.
Exercise is certainly an option, but the necessary equipment will take up space and be a drain on power.
In addition, they'll need room to move around, places to sleep, eat, work, and relax during their down time.
Otherwise, they will be at risk of succumbing to feelings of claustrophobia, anxiety, insomnia, and depression, among other things.
NASA has been looking at a few options and one proposed solution is to put these crews into an induced state of hypothermia resulting in torpor, a kind of hibernation.
Rather than being awake for months or years on end, astronauts could enter a state of deep sleep at the beginning of their mission and then wake up near the end.
This way, they would arrive refreshed and ready to work, rather than haggard and maybe even insane.
If this is starting to sound familiar, it's probably because the concept has been explored extensively by science fiction.
Though it goes by different names, cryosleep, reefersleep, cryostasis, etc., the notion of space explorers preserving their bodies through cryogenic suspension has been touched upon by numerous sci-fi authors, movies and franchises.
But NASA's plan is a little different than what you might remember from 2001: A Space Odyssey or Aliens.
Credit: SpaceWorks
To research the technology, NASA has teamed up with SpaceWorks, an Atlanta-based aerospace company that is investigating procedures for putting space crews into hibernation.
During this year's International Astronomical Congress (IAC) 2014, which took place from Sept. 29th to Oct. 3rd in Toronto, representatives from SpaceWorks shared their vision.
According to the company, inducing torpor in a crew of astronauts would eliminate the need for accommodations like galleys, exercise equipment, and large living quarters.
Instead, robots could electrically stimulate key muscle groups and intravenously deliver sustenance to ensure the health and well being of the astronauts while in transit.
"We have completed the initial evaluation of our concept which demonstrated significant benefits against non-torpor Mars mission approaches and established the medical plausibility of torpor."
"We have expanded our team and put together a development plan that we are in the process of executing."
"While the longer term goal of enabling access to Mars is our ultimate objective, we have a number of near-term, commercial applications for this technology that we will develop along the way."
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