New Dan Abnett Horus Heresy novel "Know No Fear" (the Battle of Calth)

[Melissia]

It is indeed the cover.



Persoanlly I'm more interested in Imperial Glory. Sounds like something worth reading, along with Salvation Reach and Path of the Seer.

[Mike X]

i thought the gauntlets of ultramar were prised from the corpse of a worldeaters champion after the heresy
have i just made this up or will there be some rewite in the fluff?

Marneus Calgar wears the gauntlets, not Guilliman. Notice how Guilliman's power fists lack underslung bolters.

Well I enjoy Science Fiction myself. Not Science Dissection.

But here we have people that are concerned that someone is breathing or not wearing a helm in space on the cover art....and its been analized that its not realistic.... But the Space marine itself and the powerfist and bolters and the big space ship is real?

Hmmm....K

All of those things are scientifically possible. Even Space Marines are possible to create, we just don't have the technology for them yet. But the hard vacuum of space is guaranteed to obliterate an unprotected life form.

[navi]

But the hard vacuum of space is guaranteed to obliterate an unprotected life form.

Science begs to differ. [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/12855775"]http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/12855775[/URL]

[Verilance]

since the topic has become central to the discussion of a fictional super-human beyond even the regular Space marines

The Question

(Submitted June 03, 1997)
How would the unprotected human body react to the vacuum of outer space? Would it inflate to bursting? or would it not? or would just the interior gases hyperinflate? We are also relating this to short-term exposure only. This question primarily relates to the pressure differential problems. Temperature or radiation considerations would be interesting as well.

The question arose out of a discussion of the movie 2001. When Dave "blew" himself into the airlock from the pod without a helmet, should he have "blown up" or is there "no difference" as shown in the movie correct?

The Answer

From the now extinct page [url]http://medlib/jsc.nasa.gov/intro/vacuum.html:[/url]

How long can a human live unprotected in space?

If you don't try to hold your breath, exposure to space for half a minute or so is unlikely to produce permanent injury. Holding your breath is likely to damage your lungs, something scuba divers have to watch out for when ascending, and you'll have eardrum trouble if your Eustachian tubes are badly plugged up, but theory predicts -- and animal experiments confirm -- that otherwise, exposure to vacuum causes no immediate injury. You do not explode. Your blood does not boil. You do not freeze. You do not instantly lose consciousness.

Various minor problems (sunburn, possibly "the bends", certainly some [mild, reversible, painless] swelling of skin and underlying tissue) start after ten seconds or so. At some point you lose consciousness from lack of oxygen. Injuries accumulate. After perhaps one or two minutes, you're dying. The limits are not really known.

You do not explode and your blood does not boil because of the containing effect of your skin and circulatory system. You do not instantly freeze because, although the space environment is typically very cold, heat does not transfer away from a body quickly. Loss of consciousness occurs only after the body has depleted the supply of oxygen in the blood. If your skin is exposed to direct sunlight without any protection from its intense ultraviolet radiation, you can get a very bad sunburn.

At NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center (now renamed Johnson Space Center) we had a test subject accidentally exposed to a near vacuum (less than 1 psi) in an incident involving a leaking space suit in a vacuum chamber back in '65. He remained conscious for about 14 seconds, which is about the time it takes for O2 deprived blood to go from the lungs to the brain. The suit probably did not reach a hard vacuum, and we began repressurizing the chamber within 15 seconds. The subject regained consciousness at around 15,000 feet equivalent altitude. The subject later reported that he could feel and hear the air leaking out, and his last conscious memory was of the water on his tongue beginning to boil.

Aviation Week and Space Technology (02/13/95) printed a letter by Leonard Gordon which reported another vacuum-packed anecdote:

"The experiment of exposing an unpressurized hand to near vacuum for a significant time while the pilot went about his business occurred in real life on Aug. 16, 1960. Joe Kittinger, during his ascent to 102,800 ft (19.5 miles) in an open gondola, lost pressurization of his right hand. He decided to continue the mission, and the hand became painful and useless as you would expect. However, once back to lower altitudes following his record-breaking parachute jump, the hand returned to normal."

References:

Frequently Asked Questions on sci.space.*/sci.astro

The Effect on the Chimpanzee of Rapid Decompression to a Near Vacuum, Alfred G. Koestler ed., NASA CR-329 (Nov 1965).

Experimental Animal Decompression to a Near Vacuum Environment, R.W. Bancroft, J.E. Dunn, eds, Report SAM-TR-65-48 (June 1965), USAF School of Aerospace Medicine, Brooks AFB, Texas.

Survival Under Near-Vacuum Conditions in the article "Barometric Pressure," by C.E. Billings, Chapter 1 of Bioastronautics Data Book, Second edition, NASA SP-3006, edited by James F. Parker Jr. and Vita R. West, 1973.

Personal communication, James Skipper, NASA/JSC Crew Systems Division, December 14, 1994.

Henry Spencer wrote the following for the sci.space FAQ:

How Long Can a Human Live Unprotected in Space?

If you *don't* try to hold your breath, exposure to space for half a minute of so is unlikely to produce permanent injury. Holding your breath is likely to damage your lungs, something scuba divers have to watch out for when ascending, and you'll have eardrum trouble if your Eustachian tubes are badly plugged up, but theory predicts -- and animal experiments confirm -- that otherwise, exposure to vacuum causes no immediate injury. You do not explode. Your blood does not boil. You do not freeze. You do not instantly lose consciousness.

Various minor problems (sunburn, possibly "the bends", certainly some [mild, reversible, painless] swelling of skin and underlying tissue) start after 10 seconds or so. At some point you lose consciousness from lack of oxygen. Injuries accumulate. After perhaps one or two minutes you're dying. The limits are not really known.

References:

The Effect on the Chimpanzee of Rapid Decompression to a Near Vacuum, Alfred G. Koestler ed., NASA CR-329 (Nov. 1965)

Experimental Animal Decompression to a Near Vacuum Environment, R.W. Bancroft, J.E. Dunn, eds, Report SAM-TR-65-48 (June 1965), USAF School of Aerospace Medicine, Brooks AFB, Texas.

You would probably pass out in around 15 seconds because your lungs are now exchanging oxygen out of the blood. The reason that a human does not burst is that our skin has some strength. For instance compressed oxygen in a steel tank may be at several hundreds times the pressure of the air outside and the strength of the steel keeps the cylinder from breaking. Although our skin is not steel, it still is strong enough to keep our bodies from bursting in space.

Also, the vapor pressure of water at 37 C is 47 mm Hg. As long as you keep your blood-pressure above that (which you will unless you go deep into shock) your blood will not boil. My guess is that the body seems to regulate blood pressure as a gauge, rather than absolute pressure (e.g. your blood vessels don't collapse when you dive 10 feet into a pool).

The saliva on your tongue might boil, however.

For more information and references, see [url]http://www.sff.net/people/geoffrey.landis/vacuum.html[/url]

Hope this helps!
The Ask an Astrophysicist Team

Questions on this topic are no longer responded to by the "Ask an Astrophysicist" service. See [url]http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/ask_an_astronomer.html[/url] for help on other astronomy Q&A services.

Science begs to differ. [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/12855775"]http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/12855775[/URL]

beat me by a minute lol

[Morgan Darkstar]

Marneus Calgar wears the gauntlets, not Guilliman. Notice how Guilliman's power fists lack underslung bolters.

from 4th ed marine codex

The Gauntlets of Ultramar are two mighty Power Fists with incorporated Bolters that were reclaimed from a fallen Chaos champion, slain during the Gamalia Reclusiam Massacre by the Primarch of the Ultramarines, Roboute Guilliman himself. No one has been able to penetrate the thick adamantine shell of the fists to study the workings inside. While not in use, the Gauntlets are stored within a crystal case at the Fortress of Hera, inside the Temple of Correction's "Shrine of the Great Primarch". In combat, the 'Gauntlets of Ultramar' are worn exclusively by Marneus Calgar, the Chapter Master.

Not sure if this has been retconned.

[Grailkeeper]

Marneus Calgar wears the gauntlets, not Guilliman. Notice how Guilliman's power fists lack underslung bolters.

.

Nope Gulliman had them first, they are there- its easier to see them on the hand thats further away because the punching hand is at an odd angle. They're less notible because the bolters are blue, not the usual red.

[AngelsofDeath]

But the hard vacuum of space is guaranteed to obliterate an unprotected life form.

Or so you have been told...... Just a bit to think about my friend.

[Wildeybeast]

Who says this is actually in a vacuum? Yes there is space in the background and they appear to be in zero g, but in many SF stories, space ships have atmosphere integrity shields which activate in the the case of hull breaches, and in hangar bays to allow crews to work in the hangar bay and ships to quickly get in and out without having to faff around with some complicated airlock system. So they could be fighting within an atmosphere 'bubble' that surronds the ship. Or it could just be that GW has chosen to modify the laws of nature for entertainment purposes. I'm seem to recall that there are Tyranid organisms which can survive deep space by entering a hibernation state, so why can't SM wander around out there for a few minutes and punch some dudes in the head?

[MarneusCalgar]

Well, talking about a future when a simple spaceship can destroy an entire planet (Exterminatus), and where men are almost 3 meters tall with hightened senses and strength, wiser than ever... Seems no strange for me!!

And of course I´m happy finally Roboute makes a brilliant apparition on the HH series!!

[Ubberdorc]

Maybe the Iron Halo creates a bubble of atmosphere around his head. That is how all space marine comanders get away with not wearing helmets into battle... 8)