Hibernation or ‘suspended animation’ has been a common theme in science fiction. Many movies like Alien, Passengers, Interstellar and even video games like Fallout and Halo have employed the concept. People are put in a state of inactivity as they travel to the outer reaches of space, in an attempt to survive a catastrophic event.

While hibernation, to some extent, is used by doctors to reduce patient’s metabolism in some cases, it will be a novel concept for space exploration. Scientists from the European Space Agency’s SciSpacE team have outlined the prospects of hibernation for manned deep-space missions in a new research paper.

Researchers analyzed another study’s mission design that planned to send six humans to Mars, in a period of five years. They considered factors like spacecraft design, power, human safety, and the psychological effects of hibernations to design a habitat. The roadmap aims to send a manned mission with hibernation technology to Mars in 20 years.

Fans of films such as @officialavatar, @AlienAnthology and 2001:#SpaceOdyssey know that travel to far destinations requires human hibernation. But does this technique give any real advantages, and is it even possible anyway? 👉 https://t.co/4oRSCRpbmd



(📷: 20th Century Fox) pic.twitter.com/nNKQ0JVFCl — ESA (@esa) November 12, 2019

The researchers found that the small individual pods meant for hibernation would also act as crew quarters when the crew is awake, eradicating the need for separate crew quarters. The mass of the spacecraft would be reduced by a third by removing the crew quarters and some consumables.

Researchers did their study on the assumption that torpor— the state of decreased physiological activity, would be induced by a drug. The astronauts would be required to gain body fat like hibernating animals. The temperatures in the pod would be lowered to accompany the hibernating state of astronauts. Researchers expect that the astronauts would not sustain wastage of muscles or bones just like hibernating animals.

Hibernation Pods and Hibernation module. Image Credit: ESA

The trip to Mars will be 180 days long which will end with a 21-day recuperation period. The pods will be covered with water containers to shield astronauts from radiation. The mission would be largely dependent on artificial intelligence that will carry out all the autonomous operations.

SciSpacE Team Leader Jennifer Ngo-Anh explained, “If we were able to reduce an astronaut's basic metabolic rate by 75% – similar to what we can observe in nature with large hibernating animals such as certain bears—we could end up with substantial mass and cost savings, making long-duration exploration missions more feasible.”