X-Message-Number: 19240
From: "Brett Bellmore" <>
Subject: Nasa and suspended animation
Date: Sun, 9 Jun 2002 09:07:38 -0400

I can't see Nasa getting involved in suspended animation research. Let's
face it, what's the mission? What's the need for it? I can see only two
purposes for suspended animation in space travel: Conserving life support,
and avoiding aging the astronauts on extremely long trips.

But life support isn't so expensive that it has to be conserved that way,
and you can get anywhere in the solar system in a reasonable amount of time,
by using propusion technologies we already know how to do, such as solid
core nuclear rockets. No, the only way suspended animation would be needed
is if you were launching a manned mission to the Oort cloud, or further. I
don't think Nasa has any such missions planned, and if they did, they'd be
far more likely to approach it as a problem in building faster rockets. It's
not until you're traveling to other stars that suspended animation becomes
an actual necessity.

I'm not saying that if we had a developed capability for suspended
animation, that they wouldn't find uses for it. But the motive to develop it
just isn't there.

Aside from the obvious medical application, about the only use of suspended
animation would be for one way time travel, as in Heinlein's "Door into
Summer". THAT would be a huge market. But I don't think we're close enough
to having it, to get the venture capital.

Brett Bellmore

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