Death in space: ethical and practical concerns

[Woggles]

I just finish reading this article “Death in space: ethical and practical concerns” and thought what an interesting topic. I like to hear your views.

From the article

“The possibility that we will mount a manned expedition to Mars in the coming decades has forced NASA to return to a question which it has not had to grapple with in quite some time: what happens if someone dies in space, or if - either for medical or mechanical reasons - they are put in a position where there is no hope of returning them to Earth alive? The ethical and practical concerns of death in space are, understandably, both immense and something of a taboo.”


http://www.helium.com/items/1884081-pra ... h-in-space

P.S. MW, I wasn't sure which forum.

 

[orionrider]

I'm sure NASA has a procedure for that

Military crews have been faced with similar situations during wartime. Think of squadrons continuing despite heavy losses or aircraft having lost crewmen or an engine. Not many did turn back, they went on against all odds.
I think professional astronauts are well aware of the risks and would choose to complete the mission.

The "4 men for one Soyuz" problem is tricky, but that's why there is a chain of command. It's up to mission control, and/or the spacecraft commander to decide.

And for the "lost in space" scenario, I bet they would do like test pilots in a doomed airplane, professionally documenting the situation on the radio, right to the last second. It's just part of the job.

 

[docm]

For the most part, what orionrider said. On the other hand; if the situation were that comms were out and no recording was possible a significant percentage of folks would prefer to open their hatch/faceplate and end it. Does make one wonder if a more civilized pharmaceutical means is provided, just in case.

 

[Woggles]

I agree with both of you. When I read this article, the suicide pill option came to mind. I wonder how instantaneous opening the hatch would be. Painful or just quick? I’m sure NASA had look at this option, before the Apollo mission.

 

[rockett]

Other things need to be considered than what the author of the article outlined. What if the whole crew did not die, say an accident killed one or more?

Looking at the Mars mission trip scenario, would you launch them into space like Spock's funeral? Bury them at the destination? (In which case they would have the dubious distinction of being in the first graveyard on Mars) Flash freeze them in a body bag and strap them outside for return home? (Which would cost reaction mass.)

The last thing a month's long mission would need is a rotting corpse inside. Personally, I would think it would be launching them into space as ships at sea used to.

In the case of an entire doomed crew, I would like think it would be a personal decision. But the simplest and most painless answer would seem to be to disable the air regeneration system, or modify it to release carbon monoxide.

 

[docm]

Burial at sea has worked for millennia and the families have handled it, so burial in space sounds quite reasonable. Better than the body causing a problem with the hardware if it broke loose, not to mention it throwing off the center of mass. If the death occurred on the surface of a body or planet, then burial there.

 

[orionrider]

I wonder how instantaneous opening the hatch would be.

The hatch can not be opened unless the pressure is slowly equalized, same as a pressure cooker. Death would be slow but not necessarily painful. Oxygen deprivation would likely cause the crew to pass out.
If they could blow the hatch, it would be messy: one can survive up to 15 seconds in the vacuum.
Carbon monoxide is painless as long as the CO2 scrubbers keep working, but maybe the scrubbers would neutralize the CO too, or the CO would saturate the scrubbers, leaving the CO2...

There would likely be sleep pills on board. That, combined with slowly venting the ship during the 'night'...

If the death occurred on the surface of a body or planet, then burial there.

I can hear the scientists scream "CONTAMINATION!".
Crew death or an ascent stage failure on Mars would be a big problem. On such an active planet, there is no way the bodies could stay contained in the craft or in the spacesuits for long. They would have to be recovered before a few hundred years.

I recommend reading the excellent (fiction) book 'Titan', by Stephen Baxter. You get all the right ingredients: one-way trip, accidental death, body disposal, contamination,...