Deep sleep for space journeys

In the 2030s, NASA, the US space agency, aims to land humans on Mars. The journey could take around nine months. That’s not such a long time, but what if the astronauts didn’t have to spend those nine months awake and waiting? Instead, could they go into a hibernation-like state for the journey and wake up once they get there? A group of scientists have been testing to see if it might work. As a first step, they have been investigating something called torpor. This is when an animal stops moving and its body temperature and heart rate drops. This reduces the energy it needs to survive. Some animals, such as mice, naturally enter torpor if the weather is cold or food is short. Torpor is similar to hibernation (when…

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The Week Junior (UK) (Digital) - 1 Issue, 392

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