[HN Gopher] The Hibernators Guide to the Galaxy
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       The Hibernators Guide to the Galaxy
        
       Author : pratap103
       Score  : 37 points
       Date   : 2022-11-25 08:02 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.wired.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.wired.com)
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | NKosmatos wrote:
       | I hope we see some hibernation breakthroughs in the coming years,
       | but I think that (unfortunately) our species is going to remain
       | "grounded" if we don't develop Faster Than Light (FTL) travel
       | capabilities.
        
         | BirAdam wrote:
         | I've been thinking that FTL might just be truly impossible
         | which is why we don't see ETs showing up. I know that there are
         | theoretical designs for FTL systems, but so far the details of
         | implementation remain elusive and the energy requirements are
         | enormous... so, could be impossible.
         | 
         | Beyond that, I think humans may eventually colonize the moon,
         | Mars, and the clouds of Venus, but I highly doubt we will make
         | it out of the Solar System before our species dies out.
         | 
         | Edit: I hope to be wrong.
        
           | dylan604 wrote:
           | I think we should be working out how to modify/terraform the
           | atmosphere of Venus so we can live on the surface. At the
           | rate we're going, we're going to need that tech on Earth. So
           | once it's perfected here, we can then get our sister planet
           | back to functional too
        
             | jagger27 wrote:
             | Venus needs a lot of work that Mars doesn't. I think the
             | main problem is the rotation period. The amount of energy
             | required to speed up the day of planet is unthinkable.
        
           | hgsgm wrote:
        
       | ldx1024 wrote:
       | "So he mustered the courage to creep into the sleeping bears'
       | dens and stick thermometers in their rectums, a gambit that
       | allowed him to assess just how much their internal temperature
       | declined during their annual torpor."
       | 
       | That sentence right there is worth the read...
        
       | mym1990 wrote:
       | As someone that spends almost no time thinking about hibernation,
       | this was a pretty interesting read! On the problem of weight
       | needed to sustain a crew to and from Mars, could we not setup
       | something like a network of stations for the sole purpose of
       | resupplying ships on long journeys? A moon base seems like it
       | would be a good start as well.
        
         | enkid wrote:
         | You would have to decelerate and then accelerate to dock with
         | each station. It would take more fuel then it would save by a
         | lot. Edit: Alternatively you could accelerate the fuel, but it
         | wouldn't be any better. You also have to worry about getting
         | these stations in orbits that would be useful for the trip.
         | Considering the Earth, Mars, and the stations would all have
         | different orbital velocities around the sun, this wouldn't be
         | an easy task.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | credit_guy wrote:
         | > On the problem of weight needed to sustain a crew
         | 
         | They say 4 people need 11 tons of food for a 1100 day mission.
         | That's 2.5 kg per person per day. It looks like this includes
         | water. Water can (and is) recycled in space missions. A lot of
         | food in space is dehydrated (you can buy astronaut ice cream at
         | any science museum, and it's not that bad). You may get away
         | with only 0.5 kg of solid food per person per day.
         | 
         | If they did the same type of generous estimates elsewhere, then
         | maybe 100 tons would suffice, instead of 300. And 100 tons is
         | how much the Statship is supposed to be able to carry.
        
         | zabzonk wrote:
         | who supplies these stations?
        
           | dylan604 wrote:
           | autonomous droid ships like the SpaceX capsule resupplying
           | the ISS. You just modify the capsule so the hatch is the size
           | of the container(s) inside like a cargo plane. The capsule
           | docks, containers unload, capsule detaches and heads home.
           | Next human ship docks, loads containers, detaches, continues
           | mission.
           | 
           | seems simple enough
        
             | karmicthreat wrote:
             | Except that seems risky as hell. Much better to have
             | everything aboard ahead of time instead of hoping
             | everything goes right with a en-route logistics chain.
        
           | mym1990 wrote:
           | I guess there will be plenty of takers to be the who, but the
           | how is more of the engineering bit. I am guessing if
           | interplanetary travel does become a thing, some kind of open
           | space network will need to be present to facilitate travel.
        
       | LesZedCB wrote:
       | i'm re-reading Three Body Problem, (well, Deaths End, book three
       | of the the trilogy, Remembrance of Earth's Past) and hibernation
       | plays a major role in story. if given a chance and no more
       | personal attachments to my current time, i would seriously
       | consider hibernation for a pretty long period.
        
       | chironjit wrote:
       | An interesting read..
       | 
       | On another note, I'm sure my other half is a bear, or at least a
       | genetic anomaly. She can somehow sleep 16 hours a day for days on
       | end.
        
         | jamiek88 wrote:
         | My wife did that in her early thirties just before her MS
         | diagnosis.
         | 
         | Not to be alarmist but unless you are exaggerating, no mentally
         | or physically healthy human being needs that much sleep.
        
           | chironjit wrote:
           | I wasnt kidding about the duration but other than this
           | anomaly, she is otherwise normal/healthy.
           | 
           | That said, thanks for pointing it out - it didnt occur to me
           | that it could be a symptom of something.
        
       | oxfeed65261 wrote:
       | https://archive.ph/5Tfkd
        
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       (page generated 2022-11-28 05:01 UTC)