Environmental Suit Damage
A space suit operates at around 4 psi and is about 11-12 psi less than normal Earth atmospheric pressure. To safely use the suit at this reduced pressure, the astronaut is required to go through a time consuming purge cycle to eliminate the nitrogen from their bodies to avoid getting the bends. A colonist on Mars would face a similar situation with pressure differentials.
Unless the suit damage is in an area where the colonist is able to reach it and hopefully apply an air tight patch, the outcome can be quite dire. Without the envelope of pure oxygen about it, the colonists would become hypoxic as the air pressure bled away. This would lead to the person blacking out and without outside assistance, death would be close.
A rapid depressurization of the suit due to extensive damage is not explosive in nature, but it is ugly. Water in the body begins to vaporize and tries to escape, the lungs collapse, and circulation shuts down.
Such decompressions may be classed as explosive, rapid, or
slow:
1. Explosive decompression (ED) is violent and too fast for air to escape safely from the lungs and other air-filled cavities in the body such as the sinuses and eustachian tubes, typically resulting in severe to fatal barotrauma.
2. Rapid decompression may be slow enough to allow cavities to vent but may still cause serious barotrauma or discomfort.
3. Slow or gradual decompression occurs so slowly that it may not be sensed before hypoxia sets in.[1]
Wouldn't it be nice to have a J-Pod emergency shelter close by?
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