Post by grogrock on Jan 16, 2017 18:38:09 GMT
The "Deep Sleep Facilitator" produced by Pilarmin Industries, used ancient Aztec vampire technology and first arrived on the market in 2256, and it was an absolute disaster. The machine was, for all intents and purposes, a glorified freezer. In order to sustain its occupant for long periods of space travel, the device used a small nuclear reactor. Not only was the reactor incredibly noisy and was about the same size as the sleeping compartment, but cut corners during the development process revealed that the sleeping compartment had an insufficient amount of lining to prevent radiation from entering the compartment. The result: subjects that remained in the device for periods greater than ten days were found to have varying degrees of radiation sickness and in many cases cancer.
The debacle that followed the investigation into the product, along with a hearty amounts of class action lawsuits against Pilarmin, led to its ban until Pilarmin could produce a less harmful version. In 2267, Pilarmin debuted its new "Deep Sleep Facilitator Mark 2". The problem? Years of research and development, and billions of dollars, had gone into just making the lining on the sleeping compartment thicker. In turn, the Mark 2 was even larger than its predecessor, and heavier. However, immediate safety concerns were accounted for. Over the years, several incidents occurred, such as the reactors failing and incidents where insufficient nutrients or oxygen were being put into the container. The publicity of these events gave the Deep Sleep Facilitators the nickname of the "Cryo Casket", and eventually a clever journalist coined the term "Cryptosleep Casket". Pilarmin Industries went bankrupt in 2332, after one of their reactors in a casket had a meltdown and filled an entire compartment of an interplanetary frigate with radiation, despite the fact that the casket was not even sustaining an occupant.
It was not until 2383 where another company decided to pick up the reigns, known as Tripp Expeditions LLC. Tripp Expeditions quickly refined the Cryptosleep Casket (they held onto the name for its recognition, and as a bit of a joke), and reduced its size while also improving safety. Nutrient dispensing systems and methods for sustaining the circulation of blood in a suspended occupant were improved alongside reductions in the size and pollution of the reactor. By 2412, Tripp Expeditions had produced a Cryptosleep Casket that had a reactor only 1/10 the size of its sleeping compartment with the ability to safely contain an occupant for around fifty years, and said occupant only needing about 100 pounds of nutrient paste annually to sustain them. These successes did not come without their drawbacks however. TE LLC, which had been the darling of the cryogenic suspension industry for years, found itself swarmed with competition after recent successes. Despite patents, the appearance of a Tripp Casket was easy to mimic, and the market was diluted with incredibly similar products with product differentiation done on the margin.
The breakthroughs of improved safety and reduced size that had come in the past had been replaced with frivolous additions such as the implementation of memory foam cushions within the casket and a body-waste disposal system that emitted the smell of salt-spray instead of methane. Improvements were barely noticeable, such as the amount of muscle tissue being lost during the 50 year span being reduced by 1%, or the amount of vomit that an individual awaking from the chamber being reduced by 0.5 (this was a gimmick done simply by also reducing the amount of paste given to the occupant towards the end of the journey). By 2952, the caskets were far better than their debut in 2256, but only about 25% better than they had been centuries ago in 2412.
It should be noted that occupants of cryptosleep caskets are likely suffer from minor nausea after exiting the device after an extended period of time enclosed within. This nausea is generally referred to as "Cryptosleep Sickness", and symptoms tend to disappear after 24 hours from thawing.
The debacle that followed the investigation into the product, along with a hearty amounts of class action lawsuits against Pilarmin, led to its ban until Pilarmin could produce a less harmful version. In 2267, Pilarmin debuted its new "Deep Sleep Facilitator Mark 2". The problem? Years of research and development, and billions of dollars, had gone into just making the lining on the sleeping compartment thicker. In turn, the Mark 2 was even larger than its predecessor, and heavier. However, immediate safety concerns were accounted for. Over the years, several incidents occurred, such as the reactors failing and incidents where insufficient nutrients or oxygen were being put into the container. The publicity of these events gave the Deep Sleep Facilitators the nickname of the "Cryo Casket", and eventually a clever journalist coined the term "Cryptosleep Casket". Pilarmin Industries went bankrupt in 2332, after one of their reactors in a casket had a meltdown and filled an entire compartment of an interplanetary frigate with radiation, despite the fact that the casket was not even sustaining an occupant.
It was not until 2383 where another company decided to pick up the reigns, known as Tripp Expeditions LLC. Tripp Expeditions quickly refined the Cryptosleep Casket (they held onto the name for its recognition, and as a bit of a joke), and reduced its size while also improving safety. Nutrient dispensing systems and methods for sustaining the circulation of blood in a suspended occupant were improved alongside reductions in the size and pollution of the reactor. By 2412, Tripp Expeditions had produced a Cryptosleep Casket that had a reactor only 1/10 the size of its sleeping compartment with the ability to safely contain an occupant for around fifty years, and said occupant only needing about 100 pounds of nutrient paste annually to sustain them. These successes did not come without their drawbacks however. TE LLC, which had been the darling of the cryogenic suspension industry for years, found itself swarmed with competition after recent successes. Despite patents, the appearance of a Tripp Casket was easy to mimic, and the market was diluted with incredibly similar products with product differentiation done on the margin.
The breakthroughs of improved safety and reduced size that had come in the past had been replaced with frivolous additions such as the implementation of memory foam cushions within the casket and a body-waste disposal system that emitted the smell of salt-spray instead of methane. Improvements were barely noticeable, such as the amount of muscle tissue being lost during the 50 year span being reduced by 1%, or the amount of vomit that an individual awaking from the chamber being reduced by 0.5 (this was a gimmick done simply by also reducing the amount of paste given to the occupant towards the end of the journey). By 2952, the caskets were far better than their debut in 2256, but only about 25% better than they had been centuries ago in 2412.
It should be noted that occupants of cryptosleep caskets are likely suffer from minor nausea after exiting the device after an extended period of time enclosed within. This nausea is generally referred to as "Cryptosleep Sickness", and symptoms tend to disappear after 24 hours from thawing.