A Space & astronomy forum. SpaceBanter.com

Go Back   Home » SpaceBanter.com forum » Space Science » Technology
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

25 years in space?



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old November 29th 12, 07:42 PM
samtkc samtkc is offline
Junior Member
 
First recorded activity by SpaceBanter: Nov 2012
Posts: 1
Default 25 years in space?

I hope this question is not too far afield (or too morbid), but does anyone know what would happen to a dead body after 25 years of drifting in space inside a spaceship? I am writing a story that includes the possibility of a astronaut dying while on a mission and his spaceship drifting for 25 years before it is found. I would appreciate any suggestions about how a body would decay in this situation.

Sam
  #2  
Old November 30th 12, 11:44 PM posted to sci.space.tech
Robert Heller
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 17
Default 25 years in space?

At Fri, 30 Nov 2012 16:08:58 EST samtkc wrote:



I hope this question is not too far afield (or too morbid), but does
anyone know what would happen to a dead body after 25 years of drifting
in space inside a spaceship? I am writing a story that includes the
possibility of a astronaut dying while on a mission and his spaceship
drifting for 25 years before it is found. I would appreciate any
suggestions about how a body would decay in this situation.


Well, "decay" in the normal *earthly* understanding implies organic
rot, which is a process involving bacteria and/or insects. In a
*sterile* space environment, this is not going to happen, at least not
for very long (lack of air, too cold, lack of bacteria and/or insects,
etc.). Depending on how 'clean' the spaceship is, there will be little
or no *organic* decay. Loss of air pressure will affect the body,
depending on the sort of space suit (if any) the astronaut is wearing.
If he/she is wearing a current issue NASA suit -- the sort the Apollo
crews wore -- (basically a reinforced balloon) and if the air leaks
out, the body will be a mess. If he/she is wearing a 'skin suit' (sort
of like a scuba diver's wet suit, but reinforced with wires and/or
heavy duty elasic -- currently under development at MIT for use with
the proposed Mars missions), the body will be kept intact (the head in
an open 'fish bowl' helmet might be a different issue). If the
astronaut is NOT wearing a space suit, then when the air leaks out of
the ship (25 years is plenty of time for some high speed grain of sand
to punch a hold somewhere), the body will be a decompressed mess. Oh,
under hard vacume, the 'water' (most of a body's mass is water), will
have boiled off.


Sam





--
Robert Heller -- 978-544-6933 /
Deepwoods Software --
http://www.deepsoft.com/
() ascii ribbon campaign -- against html e-mail
/\ www.asciiribbon.org -- against proprietary attachments




  #3  
Old December 3rd 12, 05:41 AM posted to sci.space.tech
Harri Tavaila[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 26
Default 25 years in space?

1.12.2012 0:44, Robert Heller kirjoitti:
At Fri, 30 Nov 2012 16:08:58 EST wrote:


Depending on how 'clean' the spaceship is, there will be little
or no *organic* decay.


Never mind the spaceship it's the astronaut that will not be clean
enough; most of decomposition will happen because of the growth of
natural bacterias that people carry inside thir guts.

Assuming the body remains in pressurized environment it will decompose
unless the humidity is very low in which case it will mummify. If the
suit or ship is in near vacuum the situation is slightly different and
will lead to a different kind of mummification (freeze drying).

H Tavaila

  #4  
Old December 4th 12, 03:56 AM posted to sci.space.tech
Jeff Findley[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,388
Default 25 years in space?

In article , samtkc.afd7a18
@spacebanter.com says...

I hope this question is not too far afield (or too morbid), but does
anyone know what would happen to a dead body after 25 years of drifting
in space inside a spaceship? I am writing a story that includes the
possibility of a astronaut dying while on a mission and his spaceship
drifting for 25 years before it is found. I would appreciate any
suggestions about how a body would decay in this situation.


Depends on the conditions inside the spacecraft. If it vented its
atmosphere, you'd find a dessicated corpse, not a rotten one. If the
vessel still had an atmosphere, some amount of rot would definitely take
place, at least until the available O2 in the atmosphere was used up.
If the spacecraft continued to supply O2 (e.g. it didn't know to stop
doing this), I'd imagine the decomposition to be similar to what you'd
see "on the ground".

Of course, I'm not an expert here. But then again, who is? ;-)

Jeff
--
"the perennial claim that hypersonic airbreathing propulsion would
magically make space launch cheaper is nonsense -- LOX is much cheaper
than advanced airbreathing engines, and so are the tanks to put it in
and the extra thrust to carry it." - Henry Spencer

  #5  
Old December 4th 12, 05:52 PM posted to sci.space.tech
Robert Heller
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 17
Default 25 years in space?

At Mon, 3 Dec 2012 21:56:47 EST Jeff Findley wrote:


In article , samtkc.afd7a18
@spacebanter.com says...

I hope this question is not too far afield (or too morbid), but does
anyone know what would happen to a dead body after 25 years of drifting
in space inside a spaceship? I am writing a story that includes the
possibility of a astronaut dying while on a mission and his spaceship
drifting for 25 years before it is found. I would appreciate any
suggestions about how a body would decay in this situation.


Depends on the conditions inside the spacecraft. If it vented its
atmosphere, you'd find a dessicated corpse, not a rotten one. If the
vessel still had an atmosphere, some amount of rot would definitely take
place, at least until the available O2 in the atmosphere was used up.
If the spacecraft continued to supply O2 (e.g. it didn't know to stop
doing this), I'd imagine the decomposition to be similar to what you'd
see "on the ground".


It would also depend on the availability of blowfly eggs, etc. If
*only* the astronaut's gut bacteria is available, decomposition won't be
the same as "on the ground". Oh, not only would the O2 supply be
needed, so would a suitable temp. *AND* humidity -- space is normally very
cold and dry. Note that to supply O2 for *25 years* is going to need
some sort of atmosphere recycling system or a very large supply of O2 to
begin with. Neither are likely with *current* spacecraft tech.


Of course, I'm not an expert here. But then again, who is? ;-)

Jeff


--
Robert Heller -- 978-544-6933 /
Deepwoods Software --
http://www.deepsoft.com/
() ascii ribbon campaign -- against html e-mail
/\ www.asciiribbon.org -- against proprietary attachments




  #6  
Old January 3rd 13, 02:51 PM posted to sci.space.tech
David Spain
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,901
Default 25 years in space?

On 11/30/2012 4:08 PM, samtkc wrote:
I hope this question is not too far afield (or too morbid), but does
anyone know what would happen to a dead body after 25 years of drifting
in space inside a spaceship? I am writing a story that includes the
possibility of a astronaut dying while on a mission and his spaceship
drifting for 25 years before it is found. I would appreciate any
suggestions about how a body would decay in this situation.

Sam


Don't know about 25 years, but Geoffrey Landis occasionally posts to the
sci.space.... groups and has this interesting link (at least for shorter
term effects with some references based on animal studies):


http://www.geoffreylandis.com/vacuum.html


Dave

  #7  
Old December 5th 14, 02:18 AM posted to sci.space.tech
J. Clarke[_3_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 18
Default 25 years in space?

In article ,
says...

At Mon, 3 Dec 2012 21:56:47 EST Jeff Findley wrote:


In article , samtkc.afd7a18
@spacebanter.com says...

I hope this question is not too far afield (or too morbid), but does
anyone know what would happen to a dead body after 25 years of drifting
in space inside a spaceship? I am writing a story that includes the
possibility of a astronaut dying while on a mission and his spaceship
drifting for 25 years before it is found. I would appreciate any
suggestions about how a body would decay in this situation.


Depends on the conditions inside the spacecraft. If it vented its
atmosphere, you'd find a dessicated corpse, not a rotten one. If the
vessel still had an atmosphere, some amount of rot would definitely take
place, at least until the available O2 in the atmosphere was used up.
If the spacecraft continued to supply O2 (e.g. it didn't know to stop
doing this), I'd imagine the decomposition to be similar to what you'd
see "on the ground".


It would also depend on the availability of blowfly eggs, etc. If
*only* the astronaut's gut bacteria is available, decomposition won't be
the same as "on the ground". Oh, not only would the O2 supply be
needed, so would a suitable temp. *AND* humidity -- space is normally very
cold and dry. Note that to supply O2 for *25 years* is going to need
some sort of atmosphere recycling system or a very large supply of O2 to
begin with. Neither are likely with *current* spacecraft tech.


Why would oxygen be needed? E. Coli and many other common bacteria are
facultative anaerobes--they will use oxygen if it is available but it is
not essential to their existence.

 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
50 years in space Greg D. Moore \(Strider\)[_455_] History 1 October 15th 09 11:54 PM
just THREE YEARS AFTER my "CREWLESS Space Shuttle" article, theNSF """experts""" discover the idea of an unmanned Shuttle to fill the2010-2016 cargo-to-ISS (six+ years) GAP gaetanomarano Policy 3 September 15th 08 04:47 PM
...Will the next 50 Years of the Space-age be Better? Jonathan Policy 1 October 2nd 07 01:10 AM
Biggest void in space is 1 billion light years across - space - 24 August 2007 - New Scientist Space [email protected] UK Astronomy 0 August 24th 07 08:07 PM
In space, where will we be in 30 years? Adrian B. Policy 7 July 5th 04 11:39 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 02:41 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 SpaceBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.