This is what happens to the human body when it dies in space

JAKARTA – The competition to create colonies on other planets is getting closer to reality with the presence of a number of private aviation companies outer space . Not only thinking about what it’s like to live in outer space, you need to think about what will happen if someone dies there.

Because, death on Earth with in space will be very different. On Earth, when the human body loses its life, it will go through a series of stages of decay, beginning with livor mortis, the cessation of blood flow due to gravity.

Then the body cools down to algorith mortis and the muscles become stiff due to the uncontrolled accumulation of calcium in the muscle fibers. Then a state called rigor mortis, enzymes, proteins that speed up chemical reactions, break down cell walls, and release their contents.

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Lecturer of Applied Biological Anthropology at Teesside University, Tim Thompson said, the condition of death on earth and in outer space different situation.

“The absence of gravity in space will definitely have an impact on the livor mortis stage which means blood won’t collect,” he said. Remonews, Friday (10/22/2021).

Thompson said if the dead body were in the spacesuit, rigor mortis would still occur because there is still oxygen that would allow gut bacteria to devour soft tissue but this process would be very slow.

Another problem is the matter of burial, because the soil conditions on earth and other planets are clearly different. On Earth, the decomposition of human remains is part of a balanced ecosystem in which nutrients are recycled by living organisms, such as insects, microbes, and even plants.

Whereas the environment on the planet is different, there are no living organisms like insects or microbes that decompose human corpses. “But the arid desert conditions of Mars can dry out soft tissues and maybe wind-borne sediments will erode and damage skeletons like we see on Earth,” he said.

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