How Would Humans Decompose on Mars?

The Red Planet’s unearthly environment will play a key role in how future astronauts — and martian settlers — handle their dead.

By Alison Klesman
Sep 29, 2021 4:00 PM
marslandscape
Mars is a cold, dry, dusty planet — and humans hope to someday set foot there. But what will happen once a human dies in this strange, extreme environment? (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS)

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Mars has dominated recent headlines as the newest generation of robotic explorers aims to uncover its secrets. But one day, robots won’t be the Red Planet’s only inhabitants. Human explorers will be next.

And whether we’re sending a small crew on a round trip or shuttling colonists with a one-way ticket, someday, somehow, someone will die on Mars. And because of the potentially prohibitive logistics and cost of transporting their body back home, it might very well need to stay there.

So, what would happen to a dead body on Mars?

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