Do biological materials floating in space biodegrade or do they remain intact?

Answer 1

Great question! No, they can not 'biodegrade', as that process implies the action of bacteria, mold, or some other biologic process to effect the degradation. So what does happen to something like Apollo astronauts 'space poop'? First, the instant it is expunged from the spacecraft, it is subject to near vacuum and extremely cold temperature. So it gets the ultimate 'freeze dry'. Any structural deficiencies or uneven cooling will likely break it apart into smaller particles. If they escape earths gravitational field they will remain in some orbit around the sun. Over time, high energy particles will bust up many of the organic molecules. Oh, and anything else that 'evaporates' (solid to gas in this case), will be gone pretty fast. It then remains to be seen over the eons where the particles will go, as the myriad gravitational effects act on its orbit. At some point, it will hit something larger, or get sucked into the sun (or in the case of elementary particles, get blown by the solar wind out into deep space). Hope that answers your question!

Answer 2

There are not really biological materials floating in space. There are organic materials, which is not the same thing. Biological material is something that was produced by living organisms, while organic materials are only carbon containing chemicals. Some of the organic materials in space are also found in living organisms, but there is no evidence that the space materials originated that way. And decay or bio-degradation is a biological process where micro-organisms eat the decaying material, and there is no evidence of living organisms floating in space, so even if there was biological material it would not bio-degrade.

Answer 3

Well let me answer it to you this way. In Nov 1969 Apollo 12 went to the moon and landed near an unmanned probe called Surveyor. I was a little over 8 yrs old at the time. Pete Conrad was one of the astronauts that walked on the moon. They salvaged a camera off of the Surveyor probe that had been in the airless environment for nearly 3 years.

When they got back to earth they found streptococcus bacteria inside the camera! It was in a spore like trance. When they put it in a petri dish, it began to live and reproduce!!!

I'd say from that experience, they remain quite intact. Look up the Apollo 12 bacteria discovery and the exact frank words Pete Conrad had about it!

Answer 4

How about just plain degrade. This depends on if they have micro organisms, or chemicals that can react in the near absolute zero environment of space, or if they degrade in UV (or some other kind of light). Take your common black garbage bag. Put one out in the sun for a month or two and try to pick it up afterwards. I don't know if theis light degradation requires gasses from the atmosphere. If it does, then likely things in space will be preserved for a long time. If you mean a body contained in a space suit, that may degrade some before the body temp gets too low for bacteria to be active.

Answer 5

That would depend. If they're floating in, say, the far reaches of interstellar or intergalactic space, they should stay pretty much intact. However, if they're in the inner solar system, any volatile elements such as water would eventually sublimate (sort of 'evaporate from a solid into a gas') due to solar radiation, but the dried-out remains should last about forever, barring collisions.

Answer 6

It will most likely stay intact. Biological material needs three things to degrade, heat, microorganisms and chemicals to react with. In space there is only heat from the light of stars and there is not much of that. chemicals and microorganisms are in short supply in space! :)

Answer 7

remain intact cause of the lack of oxygen.So things can not decay