Of course oxygen is a factor, but aside of oxygen, hunger, and thirst, how long could a human survive in a spacesuit in orbit, without a spaceship? Thanks! :)
Answers (2)
I think that if you disregard direct needs like food and water and air, you will die once you contract a form of natural desease, such as cancer or your kidneys blow up. Either that or when some space junk hits you. Why would you need a spaceship? You could survive on a rock for the same amount of time if we disregard basic nessisities.
There is no set time. She would die to debris at a random instance
You have to have a steady supply of oxygen and get rid of an equal amount of carbon dioxide. Sweat has to be removed, and other wastes eventually have to be removed. Food and water have to be taken in eventually. It's hard to say how long it would take to drown in your own juices, but it's either that or build a space ship to contain the life support systems. If you read science fiction stories you find a lot of very clever work on such topics. For instance they speak of the fly: you have a valve in your space suit and you pee into a tank. Then you close the valve, and when you are in an appropriate place you open another valve and the pee spews into the vacuum. That system is called the fly and you better not ever leave your fly open in space. Here is a magazine that features a lot of essays along with the fiction:
www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Analog+Science+Fiction+and+Fact+
I get that, but that doesn't quite tell me how long someone could survive... Say a 17 year old was in orbit of the Moon alone just her, debris and a spacesuit. How long could she survive? Thanks!