What happens to dead bodies on Mars?

Living on Mars is already dangerous and difficult with many environmental challenges. Unfortunately, if you die on Mars, your body will become a natural mummy with bones preserved after tens of millions of years.

Currently, there are no official regulations on what happens to a human body when it dies in space. NASA policy is that decisions are made jointly by NASA leadership, international partners, and aerospace organizations. However, the space agency does conduct 'death simulations ,' according to astronaut Chris Hadfield, former commander of the International Space Station (ISS).

Simulation of an astronaut floating in space. (Photo: iStock).

"If someone dies on a spacewalk, I would first put them in an airtight capsule. I would probably put them in a pressurized spacesuit. Bodies decompose faster in a spacesuit, and we don't want any odors or gases coming out, that's unsanitary. So we would put them in the spacesuit and store them in a cold place on the space station ," Hadfield said.

If someone dies on the ISS, the problem can be solved relatively quickly: Temporarily store them in a cool place, then bring them back to Earth. But for longer missions—say, to Mars—other solutions will be needed. Ejecting the dead into space is an option , but it would go against the UN's space debris reduction agreement.

A NASA-led team has proposed attaching the body (in a bag) to a robotic arm outside the spacecraft . The body would freeze and the arm would start shaking the bag for 15 minutes until the body was broken into small pieces. Water would evaporate from the bag through a vent, leaving about 25kg of remains that could be brought back to Earth. Everything on board would be kept to a minimum, weighed and stored carefully because there was not much room to spare, according to Susanne Wiigh-Masak, an expert at the eco-friendly burial company Promessa.

So what happens when an astronaut dies on Mars? This could lead to a discussion between the astronauts on the mission and the team of experts on Earth. NASA does not want to contaminate Mars and hopes to cremate the body to kill all Earth microbes.

If this solution fails or the entire crew is killed, they will likely be buried or left on the surface of Mars. On the surface of Mars, bodies do not decompose the way they do on Earth . If a person dies during the day, bacteria will begin the normal decomposition process. But at night, the body freezes and the bacteria are stopped. Without bacteria, the soft tissues remain safe and the deceased begins to mummify on Mars .

Without the protection of Earth's atmosphere and magnetosphere, radiation would slowly destroy the body, but over a much longer period of time. Bones could survive for tens of millions of years.