Scientists are working to recreate the biological processes that allow animals to survive for months without food or water, aiming to make long-term space travel possible.
Prolonged space flight poses severe hazards to human health, including dangerous radiation exposure, organ damage from microgravity, and psychological strain.
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Hibernation, a 250-million-year-old survival mechanism used by mammals, birds, and fish, may be the key to overcoming these challenges.
Hibernation shields animals against many spaceflight hazards, such as radiation damage, bone depletion, and muscle loss.
Putting travelers into a long-term unconscious state reduces psychological toll and decreases the payload of food and water needed for the journey.
Humans are not natural hibernators, so researchers funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA are studying how hibernating animals safely switch their bodily functions off and on.
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During hibernation, animals lower their metabolic rate, consume less oxygen, and pack their DNA strands tightly, naturally shielding them from radiation particles.
"This is a very promising area," says Christiane Hahn, who oversees space biology research at ESA. "It could absolutely transform the future of space travel."
Yale University physiologist Elena Gracheva monitors 13-lined ground squirrels in a specially designed facility called a hibernaculum.
"These animals are like us during the summer, but in winter they become completely different organisms," she says.
"Their heart rate drops to one beat every several minutes, and their body temperature goes to 4C [39F], which is the temperature in a refrigerator.
