Will cryosleep ever be a reality?

[Maximum7]

TL;DR Summary

Trying to figure out if cryogenic suspended animation will ever be possible

So one of the big things on my mind lately are whether or not cryosleep is possible. I saw the new Alien: Romulus movie a few weeks ago and the characters need to freeze themselves for a 9-year ship journey to another star system. I also recently read that human hibernation is possible; according to some scientists but this involves slowing down the metabolism and inducing torpor. Many mammals have this in our DNA, and it’s possible to do it to humans. Yet in torpor; you still age and you are only able to stay this way for a few months.

So the cryosleep we see in sci-fi which

1.) Can last hundreds of years

2.) Your body doesn’t age (or ages only a negligible amount)

3.) You don’t need to awaken periodically

4.) You don’t die and can return to normal functioning after a brief time after release.

Will this ever be possible? It is essential that this technology exists if we want to colonize the galaxy. Some have proposed replacing the water in our bodies with anti-freeze to do it but they have to figure out a thawing process that doesn’t kill you.

Note: I am not interested in cryonic reanimation-freezing a dead body to later revive it. There is and will never be a way to reverse death.

 

[Drakkith]

Will this ever be possible?

We don't know. There are many, many challenges to overcome and we've really just barely scratched the surface as far as research into this area goes. Freezing and then thawing someone requires a thorough understanding of how everything works from the sub-cellular level all the way through to the whole body level, something we just don't have right now. To say that the problem is extremely challenging is perhaps an understatement.

 

[Rive]

Will this ever be possible?

Very unlikely.
Some kind of 'deep sleep' which may last for several months seems possible, but simply put: human biology is just not built frost resistant. Any 'cryo' stuff would just turn human tissue into dead mush.
So till thorough genetic re-engineering becomes possible this just looks like a fantasy.

 

[PeroK]

Another blow for interstellar travel. Best not to trash the Earth too quickly.

 

[gleem]

Proabably the best that can be done is to induce a state of torpor like hibernation to reduce the metabolism and the need for nutrition and oxygen. Work is being done but humans do not seem to be good subjects for this condition. The brain seems to be especially critical.
https://www.ox.ac.uk/research/could-humans-hibernate-0

While we’re still unsure whether safe prolonged human hibernation is possible, research looking at potential mechanisms may provide the novel insights needed for this to become a reality. Recent technological advances and new pharmacological and genetic tools have already shown great potential to induce or manipulate sleep. But to fully understand how we could safely induce human hibernation, we will likely need to dissect key brain circuits and identify the key molecular pathways that regulate our sleep functions.

 

[BWV]

Much easier to just upload your brain to an android, then you can just set to sleep mode

The engineering problems of interstellar space travel seem easy compared to controlling human biology at this level

Think about the time and money required to develop and test the technology for 10-year cyrofreeze - decades of animal studies at first, then what - human volunteers? Forced experiments on prisoners?

 

[Halc]

TL;DR Summary: Trying to figure out if cryogenic suspended animation will ever be possible

It is essential that this technology exists if we want to colonize the galaxy.

Not true. It would be an incredibly inefficient method for long duration (more than 9 years) trips. A proper colonization expedition requires terraforming, which can take centuries (not even including travel time), and needs introduction of various species at specified times during the process, and probably also requires genetic changes to each species to be fit for the new non-Earth environment. So humans (or what is most closely related to them) are carried and introduced the same way as all the others: grown from scratch from some sort of DNA database.

 

[Vanadium 50]

I also recently read that human hibernation is possible; according to some scientists

Reference, please.

 

[berkeman]

Thread is closed pending, well, you know.

 

[berkeman]

Okay, an unacceptable reference post by the OP has been deleted, and for various reasons the OP is now on a temporary vacation from PF. When they return, if they have an acceptable reference to add to the thread, they should send me a PM to request that the thread be reopened. Thanks folks.