Would the sleeping pods in Interstellar be potential deathtraps?

[Gingerbread Demon]

I know they would probably test the crew on Earth and screen them before a flight but what happens if you go into the hibernation pod and then have a panic attack, the lid is closed you are lying in water and there may not be anyone to hear you banging on the lid.

So with no obvious means of egress or panic button wouldn't those things be deathtraps?

 

[Noname Given]

I know they would probably test the crew on Earth and screen them before a flight but what happens if you go into the hibernation pod and then have a panic attack, the lid is closed you are lying in water and there may not be anyone to hear you banging on the lid.

So with no obvious means of egress or panic button wouldn't those things be deathtraps?

I would think ANY man-made device that:

- Automatically puts you in a coma like state
- Is expected to run/monitor you perfectly for years
- Is expected to bring you out of said coma like state at a given data/time

Could be a 'death trap' if it malfunctions.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

I would think ANY man-made device that:

- Automatically puts you in a coma like state
- Is expected to run/monitor you perfectly for years
- Is expected to bring you out of said coma like state at a given data/time

Could be a 'death trap' if it malfunctions.

This is a very valid point.

The thing that amuses me about the movie is that I can accept everyone was screened and tested for the mission and on Earth they might have had test runs using the same sleep technology. But in space what's to stop someone freaking out once they slip into that thing unless those tablets they take before going under are super fast acting.

 

[Gov Kodos]

I would think there would be a long battery of psychological screenings that would remove anyone likely to panic long before they get into the pod or even on the space ship to begin with.

 

[Stoo]

Normally in scifi, sleep\suspended animation pods have glass fronts. These are more like a coffin or a mortuary freezer. So yeah getting shut in one could be terrifying. I assume the crew take fast-acting sedatives, and also in ideal circumstances would be thoroughly screened beforehand.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

For a sleeping pod gone wrong, see the ending scene to the Space: 1999 episode “Earthbound.”

 

[Noname Given]

For a sleeping pod gone wrong, see the ending scene to the Space: 1999 episode “Earthbound.”

Or the end of the 'landing' sequence in the original 1968 version of "Planet of the Apes".

 

[Nerys Myk]

They're also a suicide rap, you gotta get out while you're young...

 

[CorporalCaptain]

See also 2001: A Space Odyssey.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Normally in scifi, sleep\suspended animation pods have glass fronts. These are more like a coffin or a mortuary freezer. So yeah getting shut in one could be terrifying. I assume the crew take fast-acting sedatives, and also in ideal circumstances would be thoroughly screened beforehand.

That was my point. I feel that on Earth using those would present no dramas but once in space people's minds can change. So those pills better be damn fast to put you under.