can dead people survive in vacuum?

[dragonballer]

there is one famous saiyan weakness: they can't survive in vacuum.

what about a dead saiyan? it was stated that dead people don't need to eat,so do they not need to breath as well?

[Lord Beerus]

No. Dead or alive, Saiyans in Dragon Ball can't survive in a vacuum.

[Herms]

.............I'm curious to know what "survive" means in this context.

[Phenomenol]

No. Dead or alive, Saiyans in Dragon Ball can't survive in a vacuum.

Only concerning breathing. But their body is more than capable of surviving.

[Tectorman]

Directly answering the thread title, no. Dead people can't even survive in atmosphere.

That said, up until Goku fighting Beers up near the Hubble telescope and then totally tiring out and still not dying, the only non-anime instance we have of a Saiyan surviving vacuum was the gag scene with Goku exiling Boss Rabbit and his henchmen to the moon.

Anime instances include:

-Bardock and everyone else dying up in orbit around Planet Vegeta from, not vacuum, but Frieza's Death Ball
-Vegeta destroying Planet Arlia from high orbit
-Vegeta training out in space and looking for Goku (this was post-Namek)

Instances from the manga that cloud the issue:
-Vegeta's intention during the Saiyan arc ultimately became "destroy the planet", which would presumably have destroyed Earth's atmosphere and killed Vegeta as well, except he's still IMO too self-centered at this point in the series to sacrifice himself over a dung-heap planet and a low-class warrior; i.e., he meant to survive somehow
-don't know about the actual translation, but the Viz translation only has Frieza saying that Goku won't survive, not that it's an instant death sentence

Building on that last point, Frieza may well have been positing three scenarios for Goku:
1) The planet's destruction kills Goku (he doesn't survive)
2) Goku survives the planet's destruction, fights Frieza with his last breath of air in vacuum, and loses (Goku doesn't survive)
3) Goku survives the planet's destruction, fights and defeats Frieza with his last breath of air in vacuum, but cannot possibly fly fast enough to get to another planet before dying (Goku doesn't survive)

Is it ever established that Saiyans aren't really good at holding their breath?

[Rocketman]

No. Dead or alive, Saiyans in Dragon Ball can't survive in a vacuum.

Only concerning breathing. But their body is more than capable of surviving.

If you discount breathing, the human body is perfectly capable of surviving in vacuum too.

[Dyno]

Anime instances include:

-Bardock and everyone else dying up in orbit around Planet Vegeta from, not vacuum, but Freeza's Death Ball
-Vegeta destroying Planet Arlia from high orbit
-Vegeta training out in space and looking for Goku (this was post-Namek)

Bardock was seen outside planet Vegeta in the manga as well.

[Hitiro]

No. Dead or alive, Saiyans in Dragon Ball can't survive in a vacuum.

Only concerning breathing. But their body is more than capable of surviving.

If you discount breathing, the human body is perfectly capable of surviving in vacuum too.

How is this so? In a vacuum your blood both boils and freezes once it escapes your body. I'm sure that would kill you. I think it is said that you would only be able to survive in a vacuum for around a minute before your blood actually reaches the point where it would boil.

[Pantalones]

I'm pretty sure I've read that suffocation will kill a normal human exposed to the vacuum of space long before anything else would even come remotely close, and I know it takes longer than a minute to die from lack of oxygen. And if someone does stay out there longer than the time it takes to suffocate (like someone who was drowning and then was rescued after losing consciousness and possibly suffering brain damage, but before death) then it'd be the exposure to radiation out there that would do the most damage -- our atmosphere blocks a lot of really nasty stuff that's floating around up there.

There's been a lot of exaggeration of what happens to your body in vacuum in movies, TV, etc. and sometimes it gets hard to pick out the actual facts from the TV/movie stuff (aside from the obvious, like "being in space does not make you explode" XD) since so much TV/movie stuff gets thrown around as if it's fact, or at least the exaggerations of the TV/movie stuff (based on stuff that actually happens, but pumped up to absurd levels) do.

[rereboy]

To avoid misconceptions, this article talks about that: http://www.damninteresting.com/outer-space-exposure/

And yes, first thing that kills you is lack of oxygen and second would be consequences from decompression/lack of pressure.

[Tectorman]

Anime instances include:

-Bardock and everyone else dying up in orbit around Planet Vegeta from, not vacuum, but Freeza's Death Ball
-Vegeta destroying Planet Arlia from high orbit
-Vegeta training out in space and looking for Goku (this was post-Namek)

Bardock was seen outside planet Vegeta in the manga as well.

We see one flashback panel with Frieza pointing towards Bardock and Bardock (far too close for this panel to be seen as anything other than an abstraction) being torn to pieces by the explosion. Was Bardock merely in upper-atmosphere? Was he wearing a combat-spacesuit that got vaporized right before he did?

I might be misremembering it though. Was there another panel that shows Planet Vegeta behind Bardock (and, you know, in the distance)? I'm not sure.

In any case, it might not matter. Frieza is the ruler of a vast empire where warriors need to be able to operate in all sorts of environments, including space. It might not be a natural ability but a learned technique that allows Vegeta and Bardock to fight in space. Frieza's reason for expecting Goku to perish in vacuum might be due to his expecting Goku to not know of this hypothetical vacuum-survival technique.

If Frieza has never heard of Earth, then Earth likely doesn't have a significant space presence, if at all. Which means Earth's warriors wouldn't have much need to develop a vacuum-survival martial arts technique. So it might not be "Saiyans can't survive in vacuum" but merely "YOU can't survive in vacuum".

[Faustus]

When dead folks die in Dragon Ball, they cease to exist. Chuck halo!Goku in a vacuum, and bye-bye Goku.

[Dyno]

We see one flashback panel with Freeza pointing towards Bardock and Bardock (far too close for this panel to be seen as anything other than an abstraction) being torn to pieces by the explosion. Was Bardock merely in upper-atmosphere? Was he wearing a combat-spacesuit that got vaporized right before he did?

I might be misremembering it though. Was there another panel that shows Planet Vegeta behind Bardock (and, you know, in the distance)? I'm not sure.

Bardock is more or less in the same "level" where Kakarot fought with Bills. Above planet Vegeta, enough to have a clear vision of it.

[Duo]

.............I'm curious to know what "survive" means in this context.

"But space is a vackum!"

Well, the thread title gave me and my girlfriend quite a laugh. My day has been improved.

It really did not occur to me what the intended question was until reading the posts in this thread.

[Tectorman]

We see one flashback panel with Freeza pointing towards Bardock and Bardock (far too close for this panel to be seen as anything other than an abstraction) being torn to pieces by the explosion. Was Bardock merely in upper-atmosphere? Was he wearing a combat-spacesuit that got vaporized right before he did?

I might be misremembering it though. Was there another panel that shows Planet Vegeta behind Bardock (and, you know, in the distance)? I'm not sure.

Bardock is more or less in the same "level" where Kakarot fought with Bills. Above planet Vegeta, enough to have a clear vision of it.

Ah, thanks.

So that means I'm sticking with my "other Saiyans know this hypothetical space-survival technique and only Goku doesn't" theory. Maybe he was just intuitively using a lesser version with Boss Rabbit.

[Hitiro]

Ah, thanks.

So that means I'm sticking with my "other Saiyans know this hypothetical space-survival technique and only Goku doesn't" theory. Maybe he was just intuitively using a lesser version with Boss Rabbit.

Or they could be at a high altitude.

Taken from a high altitude baloon:

Spoiler:

[Rocketman]

How is this so? In a vacuum your blood both boils and freezes once it escapes your body.

Blood escaping your body will kill you on Earth.

I think it is said that you would only be able to survive in a vacuum for around a minute before your blood actually reaches the point where it would boil.

No, you only survive for a minute because that's how long you can go without breathing. The lack of oxygen kills you long before anything else has a chance to.

[dragonballer]

let's not talk about humans.

dead saiyans. they might not need to breathe and have strong internal organs.they survived high gravity and didn't get hurt with sudden change of the gravity as well.

[Lord Beerus]

let's not talk about humans.

dead saiyans. they might not need to breathe and have strong internal organs.they survived high gravity and didn't get hurt with sudden change of the gravity as well.

Um... what?

[mAcChaos]

Isn't it possible they create some sort of ki barrier to shield themselves from the effects of outer space? Or to carry some oxygen with them for a while?