CSI: ISS

When it eventually happens, a murder in space will be unlike any that has occurred on Earth. So how do you investigate an astronaut's killing when your crime scene lacks gravity?

- by DR CLAIRE ASHER

A confined space, a limited number of suspects, a lack of contact with the outside world. These are the makings of a juicy murder mystery. They're also eerily similar to conditions aboard the International Space Station (ISS), where astronauts -highly trained personnel selected for their resourcefulness, endurance and almost impossibly cool composure - spend months on end trapped together.

Though we like to think of Earth's best and brightest scientists as incorruptible, who hasn't considered murdering a co-worker from time to time? And extended stays in high-stress environments are enough to make anyone snap. As cosmonaut Valery Ryumin chillingly wrote in his personal diary during a stint in space in 1980: "All the necessary conditions to perpetrate a murder are met by locking two men in a cabin of 5 x 6m [18 x 20ft] for two months."

In the worst-case scenario where something gruesome does happen in space, we'll want to know who did it. But we're starting off with a disadvantage: the forensic methods we've developed on Earth won't necessarily cut it in the face of low-gravity, off-planet environments.

With civilian space travel on the horizon, some experts are calling for investment in the emerging field of astroforensics - and the first research in this area has already landed.

So, awkwardly pull on a trench coat over your spacesuit and perch a fedora on your helmet, because it's time to go, crime-solving... in space.

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A HOMICIDE

One thing investigators are sure to notice missing in their first extraterrestrial case? Gravity.