X-Message-Number: 19245
Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2002 03:49:28 -0700
From: James Swayze <>
Subject: Did you miss one Brett?
References: <>

>
>
> Message #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.

<snippage>

>
>
> Aside from the obvious medical application,


Brett, you may have missed an important use for suspended animation by 
astronauts

and a very tangible incentive for NASA to develop it. Or perhaps you intended 
the

above to be a minimal mention of it. Let me expand the "obvious medical 
application"

just a little. I mean that the one you may have minimalized and IMHO the best 
use

for suspended animation for astronauts is the fact that there are no hospitals 
on

space vehicles. Take for instance the someday (hopefully) intended "Manned 
Mission
to Mars". If an astronaut were to be injured it's not likely they will have the

facilities to handle a large number of injury or disease issues that could 
arise.
Putting the injured astronaut in suspension would save his/her life.

Furthermore, the question of the existence or not of Martian microbes is still
unanswered. It is not likely to be answered for many years, perhaps even years

beyond human settlement of Mars. On the upcoming Manned Mission to Mars should 
some

extraterrestrial microbial contamination occur, to prevent Earth contamination 
and

likely epidemic and save the lives of the astronauts, the best thing to do would
be

to suspend them all until it could be dealt with properly. This is especially so
if
it were imminently life threatening to the astronauts themselves. In fact we

citizens of Earth should demand that such a system, even a fully automated one, 
be
in place before anything or anyone is brought here or back from Mars period.
Hopefully someone at NASA sees the efficacy of this.

James
--
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