NASA announces it's working on force fields and deep sleep chambers for astronauts →

sciencealert:

NASA has just announced funding for eight ambitious new space projects, which include the development of new habitats far away from planet Earth, a magnetic force field system, a deep sleep chamber for astronauts travelling to Mars, and self-assembling outposts to act as stop-off points on the way to the Red Planet.

If these all sound a little ‘out there’, it’s because they’re entries in NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concept (NIAC) Program - responsible for exploring far-off technologies that might one day prove invaluable in our exploration of space. Ideas chosen for NIAC not only need to sound cool and exciting on paper, they also need to be technically plausible.

Let’s start with those deep sleep chambers, officially known as Vision System Torpor Habitat designs. As Gizmodo’s Ria Misra reports, it’s not quite a cryo-sleep chamber like the ones you might have seen in the movies – it’s more a chamber designed to medically support astronauts while in a state of deep sleep.

(via spacetimewithstuartgary)

7 years ago  /  195 notes  /