<p>Mars is hot enough to keep a body unfrozen oxygen and moisture also speed up the decaying process. A dry environment and constant heat like a desert would mummify a person like beef jerky.If the moon is always under freezing and no air the body would be freeze dried and look like a wax version of themselves forever.    </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-08T18:50:19.610Z
Did you get Mars and the Moon mixed up in your writing?  The Moon gets hot when it faces the sun.   Mars can rise above freezing, but only during the day and around the equator.
userLTK
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-08-10T14:23:37.200Z
Temperature conditions are Mars are actually a very interesting topic, due to the wisp-like atmosphere, temperatures near the equator can vary greatly. Not to mention the low pressure, which would boil any water away.
Sigismund
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-08T12:53:07.570Z
2015-10-08T12:53:07.570Z
user5434678
<p>Space, as <a href="https://what-if.xkcd.com/134/">Randall notes</a>, is really dry. Mars, (<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-confirms-evidence-that-liquid-water-flows-on-today-s-mars/">recent discoveries</a> notwithstanding) is not much moister.</p>

<p>In these conditions, bodies mummify. </p>

<p>The microbes that live in you, wouldn't survive the freezing, dessication and radiation. There is no real upper limit on how long a mummified body could exist in space. There would be nothing to cause the body to change, and so it would remain. There would be a slow breaking down of surface proteins, due to UV light, and eventually micrometeorites would erode the body, but these processes would take many millions of years.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-08T17:06:31.277Z
2015-10-08T17:22:46.377Z
2015-10-08T17:22:46.377Z
James K
<p>There wouldn't be enough oxygen for any bacteria to decompose the body, right? Not to mention, the radiation of space might kill off most organisms on it. So would it decompose, given millions of years?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-08T05:50:46.637Z
You should read "The Gentle Giants of Ganymede." The beginning starts with present-day astronauts discovering a (something like) 100,000 year old human skeleton on the moon.  Sorry...not an answer, but your question so much reminded me of that novel.
BillDOe
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-08T14:58:58.630Z
On Space Exploration, see http://space.stackexchange.com/questions/5666/what-happens-if-we-bury-a-human-on-other-planets-or-moons and http://space.stackexchange.com/questions/308/decay-of-a-corpse-in-space?lq=1
HDE 226868
<the-moon><solar-system><planet><space><mars>
If a person were to die on the Moon or Mars, would the body decompose?
Sir Cumference
# If a person were to die on the Moon or Mars, would the body decompose?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-10-08)

There wouldn't be enough oxygen for any bacteria to decompose the body, right? Not to mention, the radiation of space might kill off most organisms on it. So would it decompose, given millions of years?

**Tags:** the-moon, solar-system, planet, space, mars

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: You should read "The Gentle Giants of Ganymede." The beginning starts with present-day astronauts discovering a (something like) 100,000 year old human skeleton on the moon.  Sorry...not an answer, but your question so much reminded me of that novel.  
> **username_2**: On Space Exploration, see http://space.stackexchange.com/questions/5666/what-happens-if-we-bury-a-human-on-other-planets-or-moons and http://space.stackexchange.com/questions/308/decay-of-a-corpse-in-space?lq=1  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_6 on 2015-10-08. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

Space, as [Randall notes](https://what-if.xkcd.com/134/), is really dry. Mars, ([recent discoveries](https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-confirms-evidence-that-liquid-water-flows-on-today-s-mars/) notwithstanding) is not much moister.

In these conditions, bodies mummify.

The microbes that live in you, wouldn't survive the freezing, dessication and radiation. There is no real upper limit on how long a mummified body could exist in space. There would be nothing to cause the body to change, and so it would remain. There would be a slow breaking down of surface proteins, due to UV light, and eventually micrometeorites would erode the body, but these processes would take many millions of years.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2015-10-08. Score: 2

Mars is hot enough to keep a body unfrozen oxygen and moisture also speed up the decaying process. A dry environment and constant heat like a desert would mummify a person like beef jerky.If the moon is always under freezing and no air the body would be freeze dried and look like a wax version of themselves forever.

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: Did you get Mars and the Moon mixed up in your writing?  The Moon gets hot when it faces the sun.   Mars can rise above freezing, but only during the day and around the equator.  
> **username_5**: Temperature conditions are Mars are actually a very interesting topic, due to the wisp-like atmosphere, temperatures near the equator can vary greatly. Not to mention the low pressure, which would boil any water away.  

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