A U.S.-based corporation called SpaceWorks that develops technologies for space exploration is venturing into unexplored territory for astronomers. It is now in an attempt to develop hibernation pods or human stasis pods that could enable humans to participate in interstellar space missions.
Such types of hibernation pods have long been a part of popular thoughts through cinematic practices in countless films and anime such as "Interstellar," "Passengers," "Prometheus" and others. Though, the company based out of Atlanta, Georgia, is working to turn the science fiction into reality by researching in areas like therapeutic hypothermia, nutrition, intravenous support, and metabolic rate analyzer, to realize the potential of deep space travel. The company aims to begin animal testing in 2018, before proceeding to human test subjects and volunteer soldiers.
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Quartz. Bradford added that available medical equipment used to induce therapeutic hypothermia can be adapted and automated for space flights due to its low energy requirements and portable design."
"Our goal is to get from days and weeks to months," SpaceWorks President John A. Bradford was quoted as saying to Quartz. Bradford added that available medical equipment used to induce therapeutic hypothermia can be modified and robotic for space flights due to its low energy requirements and portable design.
Bradford considers this as feasible and realistic to imagine that a system can control body thermal system, bring down metabolic rate by 50 to 70 percent, and extend the hibernation period from weeks to months. But, the design of the stasis pods seen in movies is totally different from the type that is being imagined by SpaceWorks.
"Personal stasis pods have some rewards. You can control everyone's ambient temperature individually. They also come in handy in case of failure or an emergency like pathogen," Bradford said, before ruling it out for a shared stasis space due to extra costs and weight on the spaceship.
"There would be some robotic arms and specialist care systems that could take care medical issues during stasis. They'd have small transnasal tubes for the cooling and some warming systems as well, to bring them back from stasis," he told Quartz.
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Therapeutic hypothermia, the principle behind Bradford's research, is in fact an extensively studied medical procedure used in hospitals all around the world to treat situations such as cardiac arrest or brain injuries. The practice attempts at controlling body temperature for a specific period and typically includes lowering down body temperature to 1 degree per hour until it is at 32-34 degrees Celsius.
Even though usually a patient can be tempted into a stasis for two-four days, there have been distinguished exceptions, such as Mitsutaka Uchikoshi, who is the first documented case of human hibernation. Uchikoshi suffered an accidental fall on October 7, 2006, that caused him to break his pelvis. He was found unconscious after 24 days, with several organ failures, significant blood loss and a barely detectable pulse. But, against all odds, missing any food or water, Uchikoshi survived, and mesmerized medical practitioners around the world, and piqued the curiosity of SpaceWorks researchers.
Study concludes. However, as many medical challenges still persist, the technology may escape our lifetime. Leveraging ongoing medical improvements with therapeutic hypothermia to support lengthy hypothermic stasis, combined with metabolic conquest, may provide a number of unique benefits and solve a variety of common engineering and medical tests for space travel," the SpaceWorks study concludes. However, as many medical challenges persist, the technology may escape our lifetime.
"For the near term-the next 20, 30, 40 years - we can work with to some degree like two weeks' stasis capability," Bradford reportedly said.
