Living in Space

The challenge of long term living in space is one that is still being addressed. Without artificial gravity, space travelers must rely on centrifuges to simulate the pull of a planet in order to live normally during the long voyage between worlds. Prolonged life in microgravity leads to bone loss and muscle atrophy, as well as other, less detectable but insidious conditions.

The limit of storage and even boredom also prove problematics, and for most of the voyage between worlds, the crew is placed into hypothermic coma, their blood replaced by a synthic, their metabolism slowed to a crawl.

In this state of near death, the crew member is suspended in a gel bath at near freezing with oxygen and nutrition provided by the sythetic fluid pumped into their bodies through a permanantly installed shunt leading to their circulitory system.

Hypothermic sleep is a relatively safe method of transport, although there are some occasional mishaps.