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You Can Now Be "Buried" On the Moon
Dave Knott writes: Space burials are longer the stuff of science fiction (and wealthy science fiction TV show creators.) The cremated remains of more than 450 people have been shot into orbit. Yet, despite the promise of space being a unique "resting place," almost every tiny vial of remains ever sent there has come back down to Earth or burned up upon re-entry. This wouldn't have happened had the ashes landed on Earth's moon — a fact that hasn't been lost on the companies pioneering this futuristic funeral technology. The San Francisco-based company Elysium Space officially launched its 'lunar memorial' service earlier this month, and will soon be sending the remains of a U.S. Army Infantry Soldier's mother upwards as part of its first ever moon burial.
The company's website further explains how the lunar burials will work: "You receive a kit containing a custom ash capsule to collect a cremated remains sample. After we receive the ash capsule back from you, we place your capsule in the Elysium memorial spacecraft. The latter is eventually integrated to the Astrobotic lander during the designated integration event. From here, the lander is integrated onto the launch vehicle. On launch day, the remains are carried to the moon where the lander will be deployed to its dedicated location, preserving our memorial spacecraft for eternity." Because Elysium can only send a small portion of cremated remains to the moon (less than a gram), participants aren't actually paying to have their loved ones literally buried on the moon. However, this has not deterred the company from launching the service, charging $11,950 per "burial".
The company's website further explains how the lunar burials will work: "You receive a kit containing a custom ash capsule to collect a cremated remains sample. After we receive the ash capsule back from you, we place your capsule in the Elysium memorial spacecraft. The latter is eventually integrated to the Astrobotic lander during the designated integration event. From here, the lander is integrated onto the launch vehicle. On launch day, the remains are carried to the moon where the lander will be deployed to its dedicated location, preserving our memorial spacecraft for eternity." Because Elysium can only send a small portion of cremated remains to the moon (less than a gram), participants aren't actually paying to have their loved ones literally buried on the moon. However, this has not deterred the company from launching the service, charging $11,950 per "burial".
Clyde Tombaugh got a better funeral for his ashes - Pluto. Quite fitting and hard to beat within the solar system.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
And will you care? No.
Can you send a genetic sample instead? Because I know people who'd be willing to pay for this right now.
Why would you choose to be buried in such an inert way? I much prefer the thought that future generations on Earth will breathe the molecules of my decomposed corpse.
Humans are idiots, dead or alive!
What a waste of resources. The selling argument '...preserving our memorial spacecraft for eternity.' is idotic, nothing is for eternity, in particular this solar system we all know perfectly will eventually be eaten by its Sun.
Achille Talon
Hop!
Color me skeptical. The cost of the fuel and launcher alone would be a few more zero. The only way they could do it at that cost, would be to have hundred of people "buried" in the same launch.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
What a stunningly stupid idea. We can't settle for littering the places we actually go to; we have to send our crap to places we don't even visit.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
Because by climbing into the cenotaph, and creating a micro-sized subspace vacuole to transit to the nearby moon, you will begin the next emanation. At least according to the Vinori.
Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about.
------ The best brain training is now totally free : )
"You Can Now Be "Buried" On the Moon", where "now" equals some nebulous point in the future, but before the scam artists run off with all the money and claim bankruptcy.
From their 'how it works' site: http://elysiumspace.com/how-it...
"Depending on the initial altitude of the latter, our memorial spacecraft will respectfully and peacefully orbit the Earth from a few months to several years."
"Eventually, in a last poetic moment, the spacecraft will harmlessly reenter the Earth’s atmosphere, blazing as a shooting star."
So basically, just like every other 'ashes to space' launch. The word 'moon' appears nowhere.
Not ashes, not even DNA. If my whole body is on the moon, there is a small chance future alien civilization will be able to save my brain, put it in a robot body, and I will live forever just like the Zoromes!
A foole & his money,
be soone at debate:
which after with sorow,
repents him to late.
Thomas Tusser, 1573
Well, I guess that's one way to opt out of the circle of life.
When someone says, "Any fool can see
He was paralyzed, poor thing, after being conked during sex. This is all he can manage to type out with his eyelids.
That's a MOOOOOOVING story.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
$12k per gram? I'll stick with cocaine, thanks...
Fuck you. You're dead. I'm not going to pollute the solar system just because you thought it would be cool. You won't even be alive to enjoy it! How fucking stupid.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
Heck no - At the very least I want a vial of my blood sealed in amber so alien scientists can dig me up on the moon (After the earth has blown itself up, of course) and use my DNA to recreate Human World...
Comment removed based on user account deletion
These fools want to be Ozymandias, king of kings. The Earth doesn't need your kind.
I hope they play Rocket Man at the launch.
I have a friend who wants to be "buried" on the moon as follows:
Seated at a Card Table, playing poker
With a Beer
And a Royal Flush in his hands
So that some day Astronomy students can look up and see him.
That's the worst pun I've heifer seen.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
I've been missing moo.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
That's the worst pun I've heifer seen.
Well played, Hognoxious! well played indeed, sir.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.