Three years? A low energy transfer orbit gets you to Mars in less than a year. In the past, theoretical crewed missions were planned with an 8-9 month travel time. With enough propellant, could get that down to just over three months. And that’s with chemical rockets, not some hypothetical nuclear or torch drive.
More importantly … what exactly is gained by this incredibly risky biochemical process?
- Less need for food supplies (seems like recycling/growing more is less challenging than human hibernation)
- Ummm less boredom?
It seems orders of magnitude cheaper, safer, and with more immediately Earth-beneficial spinoffs to focus on making more and better bio-recycling.
Humans who are active in space already have to spend a lot of work keeping up muscle and bone mass. Animals in hibernation under normal gravity also lose bone and muscle mass.
Imagine doubling that up, just to save a few sandwiches.
Considering how many diseases could be treated by a pause button on metabolism, I would expect this technology to mature in clinics and hospitals long before we get them on spaceships.
Can you give some examples that’s really interesting
