The Arctic Ground Squirrel and Space Travel
The Arctic Ground Squirrel lives in Alaska USA.
It lives in the Tundra. A Tundra is a place that has long cold winters and short cool summers. The Tundra has little rain and dry winds. It is like a cold desert.
The Arctic Ground Squirrel hibernates for 8 months of the year no other animal hibernates for that long.
Its body temperature goes to -3 degrees but its blood doesn’t freeze. In order to stay alive it’s body does an amazing thing.
Every 2 weeks without waking up, its body starts to shiver and heats up and causes brain neurons to fire for half a day.
If this did not occur its brain would die and it would never wake up after hibernation. Scientist are looking at closely at these animals to help with dementia and for space travel.
What is the longest you have slept for?
It took astronauts 3 days to travel to the moon.
Humans plan to travel to Mars in the next 20 years. If you travelled at the speed of an airplane to Mars it would take over 20 years.
On a spacecraft travelling at 40,000 kmph it would take 7 months.
How would you like staying in the same room for 7 months?
That’s a long time twiddling your thumbs. Hence a form of hibernation is required by astronauts.
Do you think the sun is big?
The sun is just one of millions of stars in the Milky Way.
Do you think the Milky Way is big?
