Vampisaurus

Floating Forever

Added 2023-06-24 20:38:55 +0000 UTC

Photoproject about an space explorer who dies in space from lack of air and who finally travells forever through the cosmos!

As I have posted on my socials (with less photos), this is just an artistic project, but let's talk about the interesting real options for a corpse floating in space:

In outer space there is no microbial activity, if you die without any spacesuit and of asphyxiation (with no violent lungs decompression), your internal microorganisms also would die due the lack of oxygen, so no oxidation and decomposition of the body takes place. There are two scenarios then, if you are near a heat source such as a star, the body loses its fluids and “mummifies”, preserved and embalmed floating in space. And if you are in the vast majority of empty space, far enough away from stars, the body freezes and stops oxidising.

In both cases a body can float for thousands of years, without decomposing, until probability leads you to collide with an atmosphere, any celestial body or cosmic radiation erode your matter.

But if you in fact die inside a spacesuit your body does decompose due to the activity of your body's own bacteria. Eventually the cosmic radiation around you would begin to break down the material of your spacesuit. The process may take years or even longer, but eventually, when the suit is compromised and all the air pressure built up inside is released, the rapid expansion of the air would cause a small explosion, destroying the suit and the already weakened and rotting inner body.