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Survival in Space Unprotected is Possible

scientificamerican.com

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Re: Survival in Space Unprotected is Possible

#11

Post by scott_s »

tokenadult wrote: post #2

A famous scene in the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey showed this. (The actor, Keir Dullea, almost was badly injured in the shot showing him entering the spaceship airlock without his helmet on, by the way.) But as the article points out, such survival is only "for at least a couple of minutes. Not that you would remain conscious long enough to rescue yourself, but if your predicament was accidental, there could be t…

Event Horizon from 1997 also had a scene where someone survived a short trip through space.

Re: Survival in Space Unprotected is Possible

#12

Post by pigboy »

error54 wrote: post #7

What the article fails to mention is that space is cold. Really, really cold averaging -454.81 Fahrenheit[1] making concerns about oxygen or water pressure irrelevant. The article should have been called "Survival in Vacuum Unprotected Possible." 1 - http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/980301b....

The statement "space is cold" doesn't make much sense, since space, being a vacuum, is lacking any _thing_ to have a temperature at all. What little matter does exist in the vacuum of space is not going to conduct any significant heat from your warm body. An ordinary "space blanket" would keep you quite warm. Until you suffocated, of course.

Re: Survival in Space Unprotected is Possible

#13

Post by gmaslov »

silvio wrote: post #8
error54 wrote: post #7

What the article fails to mention is that space is cold. Really, really cold averaging -454.81 Fahrenheit[1] making concerns about oxygen or water pressure irrelevant. The article should have been called "Survival in Vacuum Unprotected Possible." 1 - http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/980301b....

Space is for all practical purposes a vacuum, thus the only cooling effect would be by radiation, given that the body wouldn't be in contact with anything around it, as opposed to what happens on the ground where it is surrounded by air or water in the sea. In these conditions, the change in temperature takes a long time. As stated in the linked article: "If we put a thermometer in darkest space, with absolutely noth…

Indeed. A living human probably generates more heat from the normal bodily processes than can be radiated away in space. For this reason spacesuits are equipped with coolers, not (AFAIK) heaters.

Re: Survival in Space Unprotected is Possible

#14

Post by error54 »

gmaslov wrote: post #13
silvio wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Space is for all practical purposes a vacuum, thus the only cooling effect would be by radiation, given that the body wouldn't be in contact with anything around it, as opposed to what happens on the ground where it is surrounded by air or water in the sea. In these conditions, the change in temperature takes a long time. As stated in the linked article: "If we put a thermometer in darkest space, with absolutely noth…

Indeed. A living human probably generates more heat from the normal bodily processes than can be radiated away in space. For this reason spacesuits are equipped with coolers, not (AFAIK) heaters.

Thanks guys! I didn't even think about there being nothing around to transfer heat away the body. I would have figured that the fact that water boils and then freezes in space would mean (humans being mostly water) that a person would expire rather quickly unprotected.

Re: Survival in Space Unprotected is Possible

#15

Post by lysol »

ams6110 wrote: post #9
error54 wrote: post #7

What the article fails to mention is that space is cold. Really, really cold averaging -454.81 Fahrenheit[1] making concerns about oxygen or water pressure irrelevant. The article should have been called "Survival in Vacuum Unprotected Possible." 1 - http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/980301b....

How does vacuum (the absence of matter) have a temperature?

Outer space isn't a perfect vacuum.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum#Outer_space

Re: Survival in Space Unprotected is Possible

#16

Post by rsofaer »

jessriedel wrote: post #3
tokenadult wrote: post #2

A famous scene in the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey showed this. (The actor, Keir Dullea, almost was badly injured in the shot showing him entering the spaceship airlock without his helmet on, by the way.) But as the article points out, such survival is only "for at least a couple of minutes. Not that you would remain conscious long enough to rescue yourself, but if your predicament was accidental, there could be t…

2 minutes isn't much time to accomplish anything in a space suit. Your buddy needs to recognize what's happened, get to you, drag you into the airlock, and repressurize the airlock. Unless this happens directly next to the airlock door, I think you're done for.

Your conscious time is more like 15 seconds, according to the article. All you're going to accomplish is hitting a panic button.

Re: Survival in Space Unprotected is Possible

#18

Post by rdtsc »

jesseb wrote: post #17

They seem to have forgotten to mention the fact that the radiation levels would exceed lethal dosages in a matter of seconds.

Is it all alpha radiation? Otherwise, astronauts and cosmonauts that did space walks are still alive. Don't think space suits are fantastic gamma ray shields, but I may be wrong...

Re: Survival in Space Unprotected is Possible

#19

Post by ceejayoz »

jessriedel wrote: post #3
tokenadult wrote: post #2

A famous scene in the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey showed this. (The actor, Keir Dullea, almost was badly injured in the shot showing him entering the spaceship airlock without his helmet on, by the way.) But as the article points out, such survival is only "for at least a couple of minutes. Not that you would remain conscious long enough to rescue yourself, but if your predicament was accidental, there could be t…

2 minutes isn't much time to accomplish anything in a space suit. Your buddy needs to recognize what's happened, get to you, drag you into the airlock, and repressurize the airlock. Unless this happens directly next to the airlock door, I think you're done for.

Or, they throw you into a rescue ball. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Rescue_Enclosure

Re: Survival in Space Unprotected is Possible

#20

Post by tterrace »

scott_s wrote: post #11
tokenadult wrote: post #2

A famous scene in the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey showed this. (The actor, Keir Dullea, almost was badly injured in the shot showing him entering the spaceship airlock without his helmet on, by the way.) But as the article points out, such survival is only "for at least a couple of minutes. Not that you would remain conscious long enough to rescue yourself, but if your predicament was accidental, there could be t…

Event Horizon from 1997 also had a scene where someone survived a short trip through space.

That was the first thing I thought of when the author mentioned exploding eyeballs.
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