Suppose someone dies enroute to Mars

[3488]

I hope that cannabalism does not materialize. <img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /><br /><br />However, this is a real possibility, regarding humans & long duration interplanetary<br />travel.<br /><br />I wonder if NASA has even planned for this possibility, in the future?<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[themanwithoutapast]

"And to take it in a totally different directions, what if two crew members get their freak on and we wind up with a pregnant mission specialist! :0"<br /><br />Solution: either an all female or all male crew.

 

[3488]

I would have thought that long duration crews would have to be single gender, for exactly <br />that reason & also to maintain crew discipline.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[symbolite]

The woman could give birth on mars and then when they return home to Earth they can say Earth is being visited by the first martian! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[3488]

In theory, that is true.<br /><br />One real unknown AFAIK, is the effects of long term weightlessness, on<br />a pregnant woman & the unborn child, or for that matter under the 16.7 % gravity <br />of the Moon or the 37.7% gravity of Mars.<br /><br />Could a child born on Mars, come to Earth, without suffering from Earth's far stronger gravity??<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[symbolite]

Perhaps if the child was place in some kind of centifuge on the journey back to earth. Starting at mars gravity and slightly increasing gravity over time by speeding the centifuge until it resembled earth gravity. Hopefully that would be enough to get the child's body used to earth gravity just before finally landing on earth. <br /><br />It might not be enough but it'll definatly be better on the child than going from mars gravity to a couple of months in 0g and then finally directly into Earth gravity. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[bearack]

Andrew - (However, this is a real possibility, regarding humans & long duration interplanetary <br />travel. )<br /><br />If I recall correctly, I saw a documentary on the Apollo program, from start to finish. There were several contingencies in the case of a death on board.<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><br /><img id="06322a8d-f18d-4ab1-8ea7-150275a4cb53" src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/6/14/06322a8d-f18d-4ab1-8ea7-150275a4cb53.Large.jpg" alt="blog post photo" /></p> </div>

 

[3488]

I have not seen that, thanks Bearack.<br /><br />I would have been very surprised if NASA, ESA, JAXA, etc have not thought of this.<br /><br />Apollo would have been a case in point had the Crew & Mission control of Apollo 13<br />were not of the calibre, they were.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[no_way]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>I hope that cannabalism does not materialize.<br />However, this is a real possibility, regarding humans & long duration interplanetary travel. <p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br />Well, i wouldnt suggest cannibalism. But perhaps grinding ol' George into fine powder and using him as a fertilizer for your greenhouse or something. Its a closed loop system, after all.<br />I wouldnt know, im not a fan of manned martian mission anyway, if it takes months in transit. I would think that all these martian mission planners already have thought of how to use it appropriately. Does Zubrin have an answer ?

 

[CalliArcale]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>I would have thought that long duration crews would have to be single gender, for exactly<br />that reason & also to maintain crew discipline. <p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />Assuming, of course, that you can trust them when they all tell you that they're heterosexual. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />Me, I think it should be workable even mixed gender. But as a precaution, have the women take birth control pills. There is actually another reason to do that -- to eliminate menstrual cycles, which could be inconvenient. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[tanstaafl76]

<br />Wow, centrifuging babies and cannibalism all in one thread, this message board just gets more interesting every day!<br /><br />On that note, did anyone hear what happened to the cannibal who was late to dinner?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />..... He got the cold shoulder. Nyuck nyuck!<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[earth_bound_misfit]

<img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p> </p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------- </p><p>Wanna see this site looking like the old SDC uplink?</p><p>Go here to see how: <strong>SDC Eye saver </strong>  </p> </div>

 

[billslugg]

I am getting a feeling of impending doom. I can't quite put my finger on it. I am seeing visions. It has something to do with this thread, the Mar's traveler's boredom thread, Boris's holiday cooking thread and Vogon13. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p> </p> </div>

 

[willpittenger]

Forget the mission commander. I assume that there would be a backup commander/first officer. Now if you lost your on-board doctor, could you just call up the "Emergency Medical Hologram" like they did in Star Trek: Voyager? There is no substitute with some medical problems for personally eyeballing the problem. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Will Pittenger<hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Add this user box to your Wikipedia User Page to show your support for the SDC forums: <div style="margin-left:1em">{{User:Will Pittenger/User Boxes/Space.com Account}}</div> </div>

 

[willpittenger]

You must be really popular on long trips. If someone starts to get sick, you get the silverware out. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Will Pittenger<hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Add this user box to your Wikipedia User Page to show your support for the SDC forums: <div style="margin-left:1em">{{User:Will Pittenger/User Boxes/Space.com Account}}</div> </div>

 

[franontanaya]

I wouldn't put a human straight in a system designed to recycle regular waste into edible delicatessen. It wouldn't probably be optimized for that. I wouldn't trust anyway a system that can break to feed the astronauts for the non extended mission. <br /><br />Mostly the valuable resource you want to get back is water, which is most of the weight; then discarding the solid remnant which could ruin your nice waste-alga-fungi cycle shouldn't be a big loss. But then, you don't want to waste a lot of energy recovering that water if you can avoid it.<br /><br />I think they could do some simple bags or an external chamber that allow vacuum inside, mince George, then let the Sun heat and the zero pressure sublimate the water, which would then be recovered. That could be a backup too to recover water from waste if the regular system failed, maybe. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[qso1]

themanwithoutapast:<br />whether from an ethical standpoint, relatives of the deceased would want the body to be returned to Earth...<br /><br />Me:<br />I think whoever goes to mars will probably be required to have relatives sign a release form so as to allow for the most practical disposal of the body. The mission, spacecraft design will probably not have enough margin to plan for hauling a body back that in all likelihood, wont have to be hauled back. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[qso1]

J05H:<br />As far as dieing on Mars itself, local burial makes the most sense. The first humans and first feces storage on Mars automatically will spread our bacteria, so some freeze-dried corpses buried in the back 40 aren't going to make that much difference.<br /><br />Me:<br />The one difference it could make is probably the most important. That is, if microbiological organisms are found on mars, there would have to be a way to positively I.D. martian bio from earth bio to establish second genesis on mars. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[windnwar]

I still think putting him in his suit and strapping him to the outside hull of the ship for the trip back, you can open the helmet once he's outside to let him dry out. After that once you get within a day of earth or so you can easily go out, close the visor and bring him in to be stowed for the landing. Should be a nice mummy by then. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font size="2" color="#0000ff">""Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." --Albert Einstein"</font></p> </div>

 

[qso1]

I guess, but I'm sure at least one of the crew will take issue with that method. Does make one wonder what the effects of the corpse would be after opening the visor and having the body dry out.<br /><br />Probably wouldn't be any live or even pre-recorded NASA select footage. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[windnwar]

I guess the big question is, if you open the visor, is it the head or eyes or anything going to burst? That would totally freak out whoever ties him out there. Maybe just remove a glove instead.... or open a vent on the suit. Still a spare suit is alot less cryptic to carry on board then a body bag. <br /><br />The biggest issue with bringing poor george back in before landing is he's gonna be stiff, you'll have to tie him to the bulkhead cause you won't get him in a chair unless ya break him. ewwwwwww <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font size="2" color="#0000ff">""Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." --Albert Einstein"</font></p> </div>

 

[franontanaya]

That's a myth. Heads don't burst in space.<br /><br />If you think about it twice, it's just one atmosphere of pressure what the skin and tissues are holding. Pick your skin and pull it, it won't break.<br /><br />What would happen is that water on wet tissues, like the mouth and eyes, would sublimate fast, and those tissues would freeze. The body would grow somewhat in size due to that internal pressure, and gas bubbles forming on tiny veins would break them, but since the heart isn't pumping blood anymore they wouldn't bleed much. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

That was actually discussed earlier in this thread. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[vogon13]

<i>Suppose someone dies enroute to Mars</i><br /><br />I would want to make sure the cause of death is known precisely. If there is some malfunctioning equipment on board it is vitally important to know. An intermittent bad electrical grounding on the water recycler electrocutes a crew member, and everyone else thinks he died of a heart attack, condemns another crew member to death until they figure out the wiring problem.<br /><br />Considering the length of the mission, we can not rule out murder either, people being people.<br /><br /><br />I think all fatalities will need to be autopsied, unless the cause of death is grossly obvious.<br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[tanstaafl76]

I think George overdosed on Levitra.<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>