There has been a lot of talk in the past year or so about mans’ eventual (hopefully) trip to the planet Mars and all that that trip may entail. NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and China National Space Administration (CNSA) all have plans in place to make this a reality within the next 20 years along with private companies such as Mars One, SpaceX, and others all wading into the Mars thing with varying degrees of participation. This voyage has been the stuff of science fiction writers for decades and the goal of several national space agencies since the earliest days of space exploration and there seems to be a renewed interest in Mars by many countries. These proposed missions have varied in scope from a small scientific expedition for time periods from a week to a year to the permanent colonization of the Red Planet.
Since the 2010’s, numerous space agencies have proposed manned flights to Mars and are currently developing and testing the technologies that would be needed. Robotic explorers have been studying the planet for more than 40 years but humanity has only traveled as far as our moon. The next step, at least for NASA, is deep space where a robotic mission plans to capture and redirect an asteroid to orbit our moon. (Yeah, this doesn’t sound like the plot of a space disaster movie at all.) Using the Orion spacecraft, astronauts will attempt to explore this asteroid by the 2020’s and return to Earth with their findings. This will give astronauts more experience beyond low-Earth orbit to test systems and capabilities. All future missions will evolve from there.
There are many obstacles and technological challenges to be sorted out before a manned flight could even be attempted. The effects of this trip on the astronauts themselves are plenty including: space sickness, mental stress, weaker muscles, eye problems, viral and bacterial infections, and unforeseen medical emergencies. You have to remember that you cannot just pop off to the doctor when you catch something because you would be a few million kilometres away from the nearest walk-in clinic. This is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Man in space is often more about drumming up interest about space in the general public than it is about the research.
Researchers recently gathered to discuss the potential of hibernation to aid human health during spaceflight at a conference in New Orleans. The American Physiological Society’s Comparative Physiology: Complexity and Integration conference explored the possibilities of inducing a synthetic torpor and the benefits of doing so on the health and wellness of the Mars-bound astronauts. Science content break: Torpor is the state of decreased physiological activity in an animal characterized by reduced metabolic, heart, and respiratory rates, and lowered body temperature often slightly higher than the surrounding air. Many animals such as hummingbirds and bats have daily torpor states wherein they basically power-down to conserve energy but others will hibernate for longer periods such as bears, ground squirrels, and Poorwill birds. This hibernation can last days to weeks depending upon the animal and is a response to food scarcity and lower temperatures. The possibility of the hibernation of astronauts has been something that NASA itself has been studying since 2013.
Animals that go into torpor are being studied for their ability to lower their body temperature and metabolism and also how while they are in this state they seem to have a natural resistance to various injuries that would be caused by a lack of blood flow. They also have a resistance to radiation injury which would be of great benefit to the astronauts. This knowledge could be of a huge benefit to people who have experienced traumatic medical events such as extreme blood loss, stroke, or cardiac arrest. Unfortunately, how the body’s nervous system in these animals reduces its metabolic rate is still a mystery however there is some research being done in this department.
Some of the adaptations that animals exhibit in their physiology, such as the low-oxygen environments that seals and penguins experience with deep diving or that birds experience on a high-altitude flight, are an impossibility for humans but understanding these adaptations could help us learn how to adapt to the extreme environments of space and space travel. Finding a way to induce torpor in humans could be a way to make the trip to Mars achievable by eliminating some of its limiting factors and protecting them from radiation damage.
–Janice Willson
References:
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-10/aps-hhc102418.php
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Mars500
https://www.nasa.gov/content/nasas-journey-to-mars
Photo Source: Faisal Akram, sleeping portrait; ESA, Mars
