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Since Yuri Gagarin landed in a rocket 60 years ago and flew into space, about 21 lives have been lost in the cosmos, but as space agencies prepare for the first human mission to Mars, many believe the death toll will rise significantly. increase.
Astronauts traveling to Mars will spend at least seven months in a capsule on a route never completed by humans, and if they survive the trip to Mars, they will face the harsh climate of the Red Plane Come, among other serious problems that lead to death, such as hunger and suffocation.
When a crew member dies, it can take months or even years for a body to be returned to Earth, although this raises a non-trivial question about what happens to a person’s body when they die in space. .
According to a Popular Science report, experts have suggested a variety of options for burying a body on Mars, including burying it in the dark abyss or burying it in the ground of the Red Planet, but the remains must first be burned to avoid contamination of the surface.
In the worst case, however, the space explorers can no longer get food, and the only thing that is edible is the body of a fallen crew member. Experts study what happened in 1972 when a plane with a Uruguayan rugby team crashed into the Andes mountains, which sounds horrible. The surviving passengers had no food and no way to communicate with the outside world while trapped on a mountain, so they made the difficult decision to kill those who died when the plane went down. , to eat to survive.
© AP Photo / NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS
This image provided by NASA, compiled from a series of January 2018 photos taken by the Mars Curiosity Rover, shows an uphill view of Mount Sharp, which Curiosity has climbed.
“There are two kinds of approaches to it. One says, although we owe the body a lot of respect, life is primary, and if the only way one can survive is to eat a body, it is acceptable, but not desirable, “bioethicist Paul Wolpe is quoted in the report as discussing the potential cannibalism among those living on Mars.
According to the report, referring to the experts, the astronauts would quickly get no more options if the food supply of the mission was interrupted.
However, no space agency has yet issued an official position on cannibalism on Mars. NASA does not mention in its protocols the sudden death of astronauts and the protocol for handling their bodies, nor does the instructions of other international space agencies provide for this.
Although NASA does not have defined procedures for dealing with death in space, researchers from around the world have been working to find a respectful way to get rid of a fallen astronaut.
© NASA
First Humans on Mars (Artist’s Concept)
There are several other probable methods of throwing a dead body into space. Freeze-drying, for example, in space differs from Earth in that the body would be kept outside the spacecraft, in a cold vacuum, where it would be covered with ice.
If a crew member dies during the approximately more than half a year of travel to Mars, the body can be frozen or stored in a cold room before the craft lands.
If it is not possible to keep it cold, the survivors can transport their deceased colleague into space. This can be seen as the simplest alternative, as the body would get stuck in the direction of the vessel and stay exactly where it was released. But if multiple missions opt for this approach, future spaceships will fly to Mars through a sea of bodies.
According to scientific studies, the Red Planet is exposed to 700 times the radiation that occurs on Earth. Radiation can damage the heart, harden and narrow the arteries, or remove some cells in the liners of the blood vessels, all of which can lead to cardiovascular disease and possibly death.
In this situation, a funeral of Mars is needed, but NASA has strict rules to contaminate other planets with Earth microbes.
Regarding the disposal of organic matter (including bodies) on Mars, Catherine Conley, NASA’s planetary protection officer, said: ‘We do not impose any restrictions as long as all Earth microbes are killed – so it would be a surprise be necessary. Although planetary protection does require documentation of disposal, to ensure that future missions are not surprised. ”
Wolves, on the other hand, believe that mankind will be able to adapt to the harsh realities of posthumous treatment in space. We realize that earth explorers have the prospect of less than ideal burials when they perish in the field. After all, according to Wolpe, Mount Everest is a wonderful terrestrial model for possible Mars missions, because when people die, their bodies stay there forever.