How Long Can You Survive In Space (And Why)?

How Long Can You Survive In Space (And Why)?

Exact Answer: Fifteen Seconds

Humans being curious creatures, tend to explore anything and everything possible. After understanding the way the planet works and how living beings co-exist, humans went further. That was to understand the space that the earth exists in.

Space is very vast, and the solar system that humans are a part of is a small part of the universe. But for learning about the universe, it became necessary that humans go to space. However, once a person gets out of the atmosphere, it is impossible to stay alive without a spacesuit.

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How Long Can You Survive In Space?

Humans can only survive and thrive in a proper environment. Humans can live on the earth because the atmosphere consists of different things like oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and more in a perfect balance. However, there is no place apart from the earth where the combination of the atmosphere exists. Hence, it becomes impossible to stay alive outside our planet. Therefore, surviving in any other place than earth is just unimaginable.

Research has been done for a long time if humans can survive without the conditions that exist on the earth. It was found that space is so different from the planet that humans stay on. That is why humans will only stay without a spacesuit for 15 seconds.

There are a lot of factors besides the absence of atmosphere that makes it impossible for humans to survive. Considering all the factors humans will have to face while in space, changes were done to the spaceships. Also, changes were done to the spacesuits that were used by astronauts.

Before going to space, the astronauts get ample amount of training. That is concerning any scenario that they might face. Only after thorough training, an astronaut gets the clearance to go to space.

One might think that living in space is not possible, but an astronaut can live in the spaceship comfortably. However, that is not the case at all. The concept of gravity does not exist once the space shuttle leaves the earth’s atmosphere, making it quite difficult to even live comfortably on the spaceship.

ConditionHow Long Can One Stay In Space
Without the spacesuitFifteen Seconds
With the spacesuitSix to eight hours

Why Can You Survive In The Space That Long?

Surviving in space is not easy as it might sound. Even after all the progress that humans have made in the field of astrophysics. There are a lot of factors that make it impossible for a person to stay in the space for more than fifteen seconds without the spacesuit.

There are multiple reasons why humans can only survive for seconds in space, and they are as follows:

  • Radiation in Space – The planet that humans live on is surrounded by a magnetic shield that protects humans from the harmful radiation that is in space. Humans can be a victim of radiation even on earth, but the quantity of the radiation is far less than that in space. That is the reason why it is impossible to stay alive outside the planet for more than fifteen seconds without a spacesuit.
  • Absence of gravitational field – There is no gravity in space to keep things stable like on earth. Hence, people can wander off in space without proper support. Humans cannot even stay in comfort in spaceships. 
  • Limited time in spacesuits – Even if a person decides to stay in space wearing a spacesuit, they will only be able to survive for a maximum period of eight hours. Because after that time, the oxygen supply is limited and will run out after six to eight hours.

Conclusion

Space had never been and will never be explored fully. There will still be some parts that will be left unexplored. The astronauts go out of the planet with an intent to research for more and more. For that, the astronauts must be able to stay in space for a longer time.

With more research and development going on every day, there will be a possibility to increase the timing to stay in space. Staying without a spacesuit for a long time is not possible. However, with the spacesuit, the timings can be improved over time.

References

  1. https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.137.3523.18
  2. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1947AJ…..52Q.131W/abstract
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