X-Message-Number: 15144 From: "Michael LaTorra" <> Subject: Re: Message #15134 - Storing cryonic patients in space Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 10:31:30 -0700 Pat Clancy proposed that for long-term (many hundreds or even thousands of years) storage of cryonic patients "the safest place would be _space_." He thinks that we should "send vessels into long slow comet-like orbits. And with appropriate reflective shielding, you wouldn't even need refrigeration to maintain a temperature close to 0*K!" I agree that space storage may be needed if, indeed, cryonic patients need to be stored for longer than about 200 years. However, I don't think that space storage will be easy, cheap or fool-proof for the following reasons: 1. Launch costs would have to fall below 10% of the present price to make getting to space even remotely cost-effective. 2. Shielding would need to be massive in order to protect against high-energy cosmic rays over the long term. Currently, our astronauts benefit from being in relatively low orbits where the Van Allen belt above them deflects many charged particles. Interplanetary craft would receive much higher dosages. And even if the shielding material were obtained from asteroids or comets, it will still be expensive to get. 3. Heat shielding requires either great mass (see above) or controlled rotation or dissipative structures. In any case, the patient modules would need to be maintained within a narrow range of acceptably cold temperatures (particularly with the new vitrification technique)which means active control. Surely there will not be a human crew do perform such control activities. So the patients would be watched over by machine of loving grace ;) 4. It seems likely to me that if we had the technical level to accomplish the above in space, we would also probably have attained similarly high levels of biological control which would mean the ability to resuscitate cryonic patients. Therefore, space storage would be moot for most people. However, there might be some unusual cases where it would be desirable (as it was for Khan and his followers in that STAR TREK story). Regards, Michael LaTorra Member: Extropy Institute: extropy.org Alcor Life Extension Foundation: alcor.org Society for Technical Communication: stc.org Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=15144