A spacesuit allows an astronaut to leave his spacecraft and expose himself to the vacuum of space for short periods of time. Its function is to replicate living conditions on Earth and provide the air, water, pressure and physical protection necessary for a human to survive in such a hostile environment. But what would happen if a person went into space? without one of those suits?
The scene has been imagined in a multitude of science fiction films. A human body is exposed to the vacuum of space and it is common to see how it freezes or explodes in a matter of secondsbut these are narrative needs. In real conditions, the death that would occur would take a little longer, but not much more.
‘In a very short time, in a matter of 10 to 15 secondsyou will lose consciousness due to lack of oxygen,’ explained Stefaan de Mey, a senior strategy officer at the European Space Agency (ESA), responsible for coordinating the area of strategy for human and robotic exploration.
On Earth, that’s too short a time to die from suffocation, but that’s because the calculation is made with a person emptying their lungs of oxygen before being thrown into the void. It may seem counterintuitive, but Having your lungs full of oxygen in an environment without oxygen and without pressure is a much worse idea..
‘The oxygen would begin to expand and to break your lungstearing them apart, which would cause your blood to boil and bubblewhich would immediately cause an embolism and have a fatal impact on your body,’ says de Mey.
Body fluids, such as saliva and tears, would begin to boil. The human body too would expandbut the skin would be elastic enough to withstand the pressure change, the official adds, noting that depictions of humans exploding in movies are not accurate.
At best, you would have a few seconds before the oxygen in your bloodstream would run out, leading to unconsciousness. Brain death would occur in a matter of minutesunless you were rescued and returned to the safety of a pressurized, oxygenated spacecraft and resuscitated.
In addition to providing oxygen and pressurization, astronaut suits also protect from further damage‘There is a problem of temperature, radiation and micrometeoroid threats. So spacesuits are designed to provide physical protection for astronauts in outer space,’ says de Mey.
A person in low Earth orbit, LEO, would be either in sunlight or in the shadow of the sun. In both cases, they would experience Extreme temperatures ranging from 150 degrees below zero to 120 degreesThese conditions would cause burns or frostbite, although the latter would not be immediate, since body heat takes time to dissipate in a vacuum.
Spacesuits also protect against various types of radiation. By staying in LEO, there is protection against some forms of radiation. Prolonged exposure to the electromagnetic radiation of the sun would cause health problems, including radiation sickness and an increased risk of cancer. ultraviolet light It would also burn the skin. If a person without a spacesuit were hit by particles from a solar flare, these problems would be greater.
The Micrometeoroids and space debris are another hazard. They travel at speeds of tens of kilometers per second and pose a threat to satellites, spacecraft, and astronauts performing spacewalks. Although they are highly unlikely to hit an astronaut who is in space for a short period of time, spacesuits are designed with multiple layers to help protect them from potential micrometeoroids or space debris in orbit.
Being in space without an EVA suit is death practically safe and in a very short timeHypothetically, one could survive if one had very little air in one’s lungs and be returned to the safety of a pressurized spacecraft within seconds or a few minutes.