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What happens if someone die in space? – Guillermo, Palm Beach, Florida
There is no doubt that sending people to space is an extremely difficult and dangerous offer.
Ever since the exploration of people’s space began more than 60 years ago, 20 people died – 14 in 1986. And 2003. In NASA’s space shooter tragedies, three astronauts in 1971
Given how difficult the space image is, it is really wonderful how many people have lost their lives so far. However, NASA plans to send the crew to the moon in 2025 and astronauts to Mars over the next decade. Commercial cosmic light becomes normal. Traveling in space is becoming more common, so the possibility that someone can die along the way.
It causes a gloomy but necessary question to ask: If something dies in space – what happens to the body?
Death on the moon and Mars
I, as a space doctor who is seeking to find new ways to keep astronauts healthy, I and my team in the Transieslation Research Institute of Space Health want to make sure that space explorers are as healthy as they can be in space.
Here’s how today’s death will be managed in space: if someone dies due to the low -land orbit mission, such as the International Space Station, the crew could bring the body back to Earth in a capsule within hours.
If this were to happen on the moon, the crew could return home with the body in just a few days. NASA already has detailed protocols of such events.
As a result, it is likely that body preservation will not be the main concern of NASA; Instead, the first priority would be to make sure that the remaining crew is safely returning to the ground.
Everything would be different if the astronaut died over 300 million miles to Mars.
According to this scenario, the crew would probably not be able to turn around and go back. Instead, the body is likely to return to Earth with the crew at the end of the mission, which will be in a couple of years.
Meanwhile, the crew is likely to preserve the body in a separate chamber or in a specialized body bag. Constantly temperature and humidity inside the space vehicle would theoretically help preserve the body.
However, all of these scenarios would only be applied if someone die in a pressure pressure, such as a space station or a spacecraft.
What would happen if someone left the space without a costume suit?
The astronaut will die almost instantly. When the pressure is lost and the vacuum of the space, it is impossible to breathe the astronaut and the blood and other body fluids will boil.
What would happen if the astronaut went to the moon or Mars without a space suit?
The moon has almost no atmosphere – very small quantity. Mars has a very thin atmosphere and has almost no oxygen. So the result would be about the same as the effect of the open space: suffocating and boiling blood.
What about burial?
Suppose the astronaut died when he descends and on the surface of Mars.
Cremation is not desirable; This requires too much energy that survives requires other purposes. And burial is also not a good idea. Bacteria and other organisms could contaminate the surface of Mars from the body. Instead, the crew is likely to retain the body in a specialized body bag until it can be returned to the ground.
There are still many unknown individuals about how researchers would treat death. It’s not just a question of what to do with the body. Helping the crew to deal with the loss and helping grieving families back to the ground is also important how to deal with the deceased’s remains. But in fact, to colonize other worlds – whether the moon, Mars or the planet outside our solar system – this gloomy scenario will also need to plan protocols.
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This article has been published from a conversation, non -profit, independent news organizations that provide you with facts and reliable analysis to help you give meaning to our complex world. It was written by: Emmanuel Urqueta, Baoror Medical College
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Emmanuel Urqueta is supported by the Institute for Broadcasting Space Health Research.