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Mar 21, 2023

Astronauts that hibernate on long spaceflights is not just for sci-fi. We could test it in 10 years

Posted by in category: space travel

“Of course, we need to finetune everything before we can apply it to humans. But I would say that 10 years is a realistic timeline,” Ngo-Anh said.

This fine-tuning is already underway. First studies have shown that it’s possible to induce torpor (opens in new tab) in otherwise non-hibernating animals, such as rats, and bring them safely back to life a few days later. The process of triggering hibernation is rather intricate and involves reduced exposure to daylight and a period of intense feeding followed by a strict fast.

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