What is suspended animation in the context of space travel?

Question

And in what way does it differ from Hibernation? Can hibernation be induced in a human being? If it can then for how long will the person survive in earth years?

Answer 1

If they "suspend" a ball game due to rain, they stop the game (and continue it later?). If they suspend animation, they stop the animation. For example, if a living body is treated with an inert gas such as xenon, life stops but decay is not possible and even brain damage due to lack of oxygen is avoided. When the xenon is removed and oxygen is supplied (using very careful procedures) life is reanimated. This differs from hibernation where life slows down conserving energy. In theory, suspended animation would be timeless depending on whether an adequate environment (cryogenics?) can be maintained and reversed without damage. Only animal studies would be ethical although preservation of volunteers who die of natural causes has been performed, in hopes that reanimation will occur in the future when a cure has been discovered.

Answer 2

Suspended animation in the simplest terms is "pausing" life. The theory is that since traveling immense distances of space would take hundreds or even thousands of years, no human would live long enough to do it.

The thought is: If we could find a way to "suspend" someones life, they could travel the thousands of years needed to see the outer reaches of space.

Hibernation, on the other hand, is just a long, deep sleep. I don't know of any human inductions of hibernation, but I suspect it is possible. It wouldn't help space travel though because of the huge lengths of time involved.

In theory, in suspended animation, there is no limit to how long a person could survive in earth years.

Answer 3

Hibernation is extended sleep due to slower blood flow in colder months. Suspended animation is an induced comatose state from which a person can be revived on command. I doubt that hibernation could be safely induced, and I sure wouldn't want to be the guinea pig for THAT experiment.

Answer 4

this is science fiction and not in practical use as of yet. Hibernation is the process of sleeping, where you metabolic processes slows down, however this does not slow nor stop the aging process.... suspended animation is when you are frozen and all metabolic processes stops. Upon thawing out, metabolism continues.