I hope this question will not put you all to sleep

[JonnyBoy12]

I would like to know more about the process of hypersleep which is used on spaceships to prevent the crew ageing (and getting bored) on long space voyages. You have seen it in all the Alien movies and some others but where can I learn more about it? I know that you can only spend 65 years in it as a maximum and your body functions slow down to 1% of normal metabolism.

Can any of you clever ABers tell me more about this and would it really be possible in the real world?

Thanks in advance for all your helpful answers, folks.

[douglas9401]

Warp speed and wormholes is the way to go Jonny, hypersleep is soooo yesterday. :)

[dzug2]

You can make up whatever you want to know about it - it's pure fiction.

[Mosaic]

It's one of those good ideas that completely ignore the need to excrete, remain hydrated, not get fungus / algae growing on you, not have your extremities go dead and wither off, as well as the practicalities of coming round safely.

[wildwood]

At the moment it is not possible but in science there appears to be an unlimited array of possibilities. Freezing a human for any time results in death as the tissue is destroyed, but there are some insects that are frozen during the winter and revive in Spring.

Who would have thought 30 years ago that we could grow a human ear on the back of a mouse!

Also, you should never apologise for asking a question you don't know the answer to. Never fear any nasty answers (not the friendly banter) from sometimes very educated people who are not comfortable with their ownself.

[jomifl]

The big drawback to 'hypersleep' in principal is that you wouldn't be able to watch SF movies or read 'space opera' novels. :-)

[jake-the-peg]

Of course if you could get up to speeds close to the speed of light suspended animation becomes unnecessary.

Sirius is about 8 light years away

If you travel at 99% the speed of light it'd seem about 8 years to people on Earth but only just under a year to you

From the point of view of someone on ea

[sunny-dave]

JtP just fell in a wormhole ...

[jno]

hello, jake's gone through a wormhole.

[sunny-dave]

twice :+)

[jno]

snap. I imagine it as sort of like Goldfinger being sucked out of a plane window

[starone]

I expect they would have to have all sorts of tubing attached to them so that all the normal activities of the body could be done without recourse to them having to wake up to do them. If you think about it, even in real life some people are kept alive for ages when they are in a coma. I believe there are even births registered during the time the person has been asleep. So it might be possible in the future. I think they are assuming there would be no ageing jonny and of course, no hair growth or nail growth and all sorts of things like that to be taken into consideration. There would have to be one or two caretakers to look after them. Robots perhaps. This is a good game isn't it, I like using my imagination, what there is left of it.

[Mosaic]

Starbuck - a fair point, but 65 years of tubing = lots of sore bits. I'm thinking eg of a urine catheter,,,ooo ow. people in long-lasting comas are tended, their bits n pieces cleaned and mouths hydrated etc otherwise big problems occur.