the planet absorbed his consciousness and killed him physically
there would have been no way that the planet could have possibly transported his wife's genetic material all the way back from earth, the planet used his own memories of her to create a replica, it used this replica to draw him in, and ultimately killed him- basically the planet used his own memories to kill him. it destroyed him physically, but somehow (?) allowed his consciousness to live on, with a life that he considered good based on his own memories. for what reason the planet would do this i don't know.
but the fact was, his wife was dead, and now so was he