Death on the Moon and Mars
American space medicine doctor Emmanuel Urquieta, who is working on finding new ways to keep astronauts healthy, told what the astronauts would do if someone from the team died during the mission.
If someone dies in low Earth orbit, such as aboard the International Space Station, the crew will be able to return the body to Earth in a capsule within a few hours.
If this happened on the Moon, the crew could return home with the body in a few days. NASA already has detailed protocols for such events.
With such a quick return, it is likely that the preservation of the body will not be the main problem for NASA. The “number one” priority would be to make sure the rest of the crew gets back to Earth safely.
Things would have been different if an astronaut had died on a 300 million mile (482 million km) journey to Mars. In such a scenario, the crew will probably not be able to turn around and return back. The body will most likely return to Earth along with the crew at the end of the mission, that is, in a couple of years.
That is, the crew will probably keep the body in a separate chamber or a special bag. The stable temperature and humidity inside the spacecraft would theoretically help conserve the body.
But all of these scenarios will only apply if someone dies in a pressurized environment, such as on a space station or spacecraft.
What would happen if someone went into space without a spacesuit
The astronaut would have died almost instantly. The loss of pressure and the influence of the vacuum of space will exclude the possibility of the astronaut breathing, blood and other body fluids will boil.
What would happen if an astronaut went to the moon or Mars without a spacesuit
The moon has almost no atmosphere – there is very little of it. Mars has a very thin atmosphere and an almost complete absence of oxygen. So the result would be about the same as in outer space: suffocation and boiling blood.
Is it possible to bury an astronaut on the Moon or Mars
Suppose an astronaut died after landing while on the surface of Mars. Cremation is undesirable – it requires too much energy, which the crew needs for other purposes. Burial is also not a good idea. Bacteria and other organisms of the body can contaminate the surface of Mars. Instead, the crew is likely to keep the body in a special bag until it is returned to Earth.
The question is still open how the crew can emotionally cope with the loss. But for the colonization of other “worlds” – the Moon, Mars or a planet outside our solar system – this scenario will require planning and protocols.
