Active 3 years, 7 months ago. Viewed 6k times. Improve this question. Sir Cumference Sir Cumference 7, 4 4 gold badges 34 34 silver badges 71 71 bronze badges. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. In these conditions, bodies mummify. Improve this answer. James K James K The Moon gets hot when it faces the sun.
Mars can rise above freezing, but only during the day and around the equator. Skip to content Home Philosophy Can a body decompose in space? Ben Davis June 13, Can a body decompose in space? Are flags still on the moon?
Can you see the flag on the moon with a telescope? Can you see footsteps on the moon? Does the US have a moon base? But in most cases, the soft tissues will ultimately disappear to reveal the skeleton. These hard tissues are much more resilient and can survive for thousands of years. Well, the different gravity seen on other planets will certainly impact the livor mortis stage, and the lack of gravity while floating in space would mean that blood would not pool.
Inside a spacesuit, rigor mortis would still occur since it is the result of the cessation of bodily functions. And bacteria from the gut would still devour the soft tissues. But these bacteria need oxygen to function properly and so limited supplies of air would significantly slow down the process.
Microbes from the soil also help decomposition, and so any planetary environment that inhibits microbial action, such as extreme dryness, improves the chances of soft tissue preserving. When we are alive, bone is a living material comprising both organic materials like blood vessels and collagen, and inorganic materials in a crystal structure. Normally, the organic component will decompose, and so the skeletons we see in museums are mostly the inorganic remnants.
But in very acidic soils, which we may find on other planets, the reverse can happen and the inorganic component can disappear leaving only the soft tissues. If someone were to perish on the spaceship en route to Mars or beyond , cold storage or a round of promession could be a fine solution. So what would Martian explorers do with a body?
That makes sense because of the long journey back, but it poses some potential contamination problems. Even the rovers exploring Mars are required by law not to bring Earth microbes to their dusty new planet. Spacecraft are repeatedly cleaned and sanitized before launch to help protect potentially habitable locales from being overtaken by intrepid Earthly microbes.
But the bugs on a rover are nothing compared to the bacteria that would hitch a ride on a dead body. This makes the issue of planetary protection even more nuanced, but a Martian graveyard might not be so far-fetched.
Though planetary protection does require documentation of disposal, to ensure that future missions are not surprised. But not everyone who dies in space will be treated like inconvenient cargo. Some of those corpses will actually save lives.
Humans have spent millennia traversing difficult landscapes and putting themselves in bizarre and dangerous situations in the name of discovery. Thousands of lives have been lost in this pursuit, and on occasion the deceased have actually saved the lives of their comrades.
Not through acts of deadly heroism, mind you, but through acts of cannibalism. Wolpe says the school of thought on cannibalism for survival is split. Mars boasts a landscape so barren and dead, it would put the frozen mountains that drove the famous Donner party to cannibalism to shame. But no space agency has an official policy on Martian cannibalism—yet.
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