# Meat in space? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 20, 2000, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-in-space/41911 "2000-11-20T01:59:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2000, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-in-space/41911/1 "2000-11-20T01:59:52Z")
Might seem like a stupid question but, what happens to meat in space? More noted, an unprotected human? Space is so cold yet the suns rays have nothing filtering it. Does the human body char broil or turn into a meat popcicle? Or better yet, half and half? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2000, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-in-space/41911/2 "2000-11-20T02:21:24Z")
Here’s what would happen: [If you were thrown into the vacuum of space with no space suit, would you explode?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_147.html) ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2000, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-in-space/41911/3 "2000-11-20T02:32:02Z")
If you toss a pot roast out the air lock, it will just float there for a while getting used to its new low pressure environment. After 30 seconds or so, the water in the meat will begin to boil. Most of the time this will not happen explosively, but via a gentle sizzling at the surface of the roast. Eventually the cooling effect of the evaporating water will cause all the remaining water in the pot roast to freeze. What happens next depends on how close the pot roast is to the sun or other heat source. If there is no heat source nearby, the roast will sit there frozen forever, but if the sun warms it enough to allow the sublimation of water (direct passage from solid to gas) the meat will sport a small cometary type tail of water as it is turned into a freeze dried mummy of its former self. ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2000, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-in-space/41911/4 "2000-11-20T02:32:25Z")
That explains the issue of sudden decompression on a living human. I guess I was thinking more in terms of perhaps a dead human “buried” in space. Eject the dead body into orbit around, say, the Earth. What happens to the meat over time? ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2000, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-in-space/41911/5 "2000-11-20T02:35:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Squink \* > \*\*…but if the sun warms it enough to allow the sublimation of water (direct passage from solid to gas) the meat will sport a small cometary type tail of water as it is turned into a freeze dried mummy of its former self. \*\* Mini Meat Comets 😃 Cool. ---
**Author:** ![Stupendous\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Stupendous\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stupendous_man)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2000, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-in-space/41911/6 "2000-11-20T02:48:13Z")
Sure, we all loved that scene in Mission to Mars where Tim Robbins removes his space helmet to sacrifice himself, but was that an accurate portrayal of what would actually happen? If you were suddenly exposed to space, air would rush explosively out of your lungs, certainly damaging your airway on the way out. Now because there is no air in space, your body would need to radiate its heat away from you, rather than transfer it directly to air, such as is done in an atmosphere. Losing heat on a cold day is much much quicker than losing heat via radiation in space, and your body’s vascular system would do a good job of protecting your blood, so it would not boil (liquids have a lower boiling point in a vacuum). After awhile, your cells would freeze, and the expanding ice crystals inside them would cause the cellular walls to rupture, making you (or the meat) pretty messy…It would take hours or more for a human to freeze solid, since we have a great deal of heat energy stored inside of ourselves. Naturally, the meat would freeze much more quickly than a body would. Unshielded from the solar radiation, you would get a severe sunburn in a matter of a few seconds. ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2000, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-in-space/41911/7 "2000-11-20T05:57:01Z")
So, what your saying Stupendous man is that the body would begin to look like the Elephant Man in a blender because of the cells-o-poppin ™. Then the body would freeze and get a nice tan at the same time. That sounds pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-in-space/41911/9 "2013-06-24T17:51:58Z")
Interesting spin on meat you have, there. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-in-space/41911/10 "2013-06-24T18:00:31Z")
Astronaut zombies are meat in space. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-in-space/41911/11 "2013-06-24T18:01:29Z")
> [@Seven](#): > > Mini Meat Comets 😃 Cool. Meat Comets - band name! ---
**Author:** ![Earthman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9dc877/32.png) [@Earthman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthman)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-in-space/41911/12 "2013-06-24T18:13:10Z")
When I saw the thread title, this came to mind: [Carl Sagan's Cosmos: 'The Meat Planet' - YouTube](http://youtu.be/ZP7K9SycELA) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-in-space/41911/13 "2013-06-24T18:20:04Z")
12 1/2 years before a PIGS IN SPACE comment? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-in-space/41911/14 "2013-06-24T19:11:29Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Interesting spin on meat you have, there. Note: I have deleted a spam post that preceded this. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meat-in-space/41911/15 "2013-06-25T00:17:26Z")
[Space meat?](http://youtu.be/2k0OLahG7ok#t=3m52s)