Space Burial: A Futuristic Dream or a Possible Reality?

[iDimension]

I understand this would be extremely expensive and there probably isn't a company out there that does this but I was wondering, is it possible to have your entire body preserved and sent into outer space in a capsule and sent on the same path as voyager for example. Just out into the abyss, would be my dream send off.

I guess the body could be chronologically frozen, put inside a radiation proof tank of some sort, I wonder how much it would cost and how long the body would stay frozen for.

Thoughts?

 

[Mynameiscommon]

*Cryogenically Frozen. Lol.
I mean sure it is plausible to purchase a Titanium Coffin lined with lead. You wouldn't need to stay cold because the only heat you'll find in space is if you travel close enough to something that is going to destroy you once in it's range anyway. I'm not sure if any company would fund this, but if you were some sort of eccentric billionaire I suppose you could fund it yourself.

 

[Vanadium 50]

You could probably get someone to do this for a billion or two dollars. (Comparable to the Voyager cost)

 

[DrClaude]

You could probably get someone to do this for a billion or two dollars. (Comparable to the Voyager cost)

I think you're off by an order of magnitude. For instance, the cost for the launch of an Ariane 5 rocket is 200M$. You could probably find a better price on a Soyuz.

 

[iDimension]

I think you're off by an order of magnitude. For instance, the cost for the launch of an Ariane 5 rocket is 200M$. You could probably find a better price on a Soyuz.

and by the time I die will hopefully be in about 50 years or so, perhaps putting someone into space would be significantly cheaper then, if we discover alternative fuel sources etc.

 

[Vanadium 50]

I think you're off by an order of magnitude. For instance, the cost for the launch of an Ariane 5 rocket is 200M$. You could probably find a better price on a Soyuz.

He said deep space. You need a bigger rocket for that.

and by the time I die will hopefully be in about 50 years or so, perhaps putting someone into space would be significantly cheaper then, if we discover alternative fuel sources etc.

Well, if you adopt the attitude that any answer to your question is wrong because of unspecified future developments, what is the point of this thread?

 

[DaveC426913]

and by the time I die will hopefully be in about 50 years or so, perhaps putting someone into space would be significantly cheaper then, if we discover alternative fuel sources etc.

Well, if you open that door then all sorts of possibilities arise. Be optimistic! For all you know, you might be a coal-slinger on a deep space tug, get caught in a boiler explosion, and get your deep space burial for free!

 

[iDimension]

Well, if you adopt the attitude that any answer to your question is wrong because of unspecified future developments, what is the point of this thread?

It's just something I thought of and wanted to discuss the possibility of it.There doesn't have to a a point behind a general thread.

 

[russ_watters]

There is of course a wiki on this:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_burial

Looks like there has been exactly one deep-space burial: some of the ashes of the discoverer of Pluto hitched a ride aboard the New Horizons probe.

I wouldn't hold out a lot of hope for a drastic price drop. Air/space travel pretty much matured by 1970 and there has only been isolated or incremental cost effectiveness improvements since. It would take a truly revolutionary technology to change that.

 

[Evo]

There doesn't have to a a point behind a general thread.

Untrue, all threads must have a point. The purpose of the Random Thoughts thread is to collect a variety of member thoughts and daily happenings.

 

[Pythagorean]

Ask Elon.

 

[Nikitin]

I guess it's possible, but isn't it a bit morbid though? Floating around for all eternity?

I'd much rather get burned to ashes and be spread out on the sea,, becoming one with nature once again.

 

[Aaron Hampton]

and by the time I die will hopefully be in about 50 years or so, perhaps putting someone into space would be significantly cheaper then, if we discover alternative fuel sources etc.

It appears that by using the word "and" he is just continuing the statement about the the cost now and adding his own thoughts, of what it might cost in 50 years. Its like having a friendly conversation like this: Person A: "What was the gas price today?" Person B: "It was $2.37 last I saw" Person A: "I bet it will be even cheaper next week!" It appears to me that iDimension isn't spouting an attitude about the answer. I could be wrong though, but that's just my opinion.

As far as my thoughts go, I think it would be possible with right technology being used and enough money to do it with.

 

[Enigman]

I guess it's possible, but isn't it a bit morbid though? Floating around for all eternity?

I'd much rather get burned to ashes and be spread out on the sea,, becoming one with nature once again.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/a-biodegradable-urn-allows-people-to-grow-a-tree-from-ashes-of-a-loved-ones-mortal-remains/story-fnjww010-1227193220684

 

[Nikitin]

http://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/a-biodegradable-urn-allows-people-to-grow-a-tree-from-ashes-of-a-loved-ones-mortal-remains/story-fnjww010-1227193220684

Seems like those people want to "live on" as a tree? Perhaps all of this fancy burial stuff is just a result of people not being able to handle the fact that one day they'll be gone completely?

 

[DaveC426913]

Perhaps all of this fancy burial stuff is just a result of people not being able to handle the fact that one day they'll be gone completely?

I would certainly support that hypothesis.

 

[iDimension]

Seems like those people want to "live on" as a tree? Perhaps all of this fancy burial stuff is just a result of people not being able to handle the fact that one day they'll be gone completely?

Oh I'm not under any illusion that when I'm gone I'm gone but it would be nice to know that still in the universe in my body form. Floating into the abyss for thousands of years like voyager :) Also those biodegradable urns are nothing more than a gimmick... Your ashes wouldn't be absorbed by the tree, the tree would just grow on your ashes which would eventually just leech into the soil any be nothing more than mud, except with a large tree now stands where your ashes were laid.

 

[jobyts]

You could become the "Lucy" for some other civilizations. :)

 

[Garth]

I guess it's possible, but isn't it a bit morbid though? Floating around for all eternity?

I'd much rather get burned to ashes and be spread out on the sea,, becoming one with nature once again.

Space is 'nature' (in the non-biological sense)!

This idea seems to be the modern equivalent of the Pyramids, and probably equivalently nearly as expensive.

Garth

 

[DiracPool]

Who cares what's going to happen to you when you die? That's it, game over. Are you worried about a legacy you'll never be able to experience or appreciate? Look at all the love we bestow upon Einstein, Newton, Gallileo, yada yada. But they never get to experience our continuing appreciation of them. Copernicus worked his whole life to bring us the heliocentric model of the universe only to see his long labored treatise of the "Revolutions" on his deathbed. What is that worth? Leave what you can to your loved ones, for sure, but don't be under any illusion that chasing the Voyager probes is going to instill upon you any sort of immortality.

 

[iDimension]

Who cares what's going to happen to you when you die? That's it, game over. Are you worried about a legacy you'll never be able to experience or appreciate? Look at all the love we bestow upon Einstein, Newton, Gallileo, yada yada. But they never get to experience our continuing appreciation of them. Copernicus worked his whole life to bring us the heliocentric model of the universe only to see his long labored treatise of the "Revolutions" on his deathbed. What is that worth? Leave what you can to your loved ones, for sure, but don't be under any illusion that chasing the Voyager probes is going to instill upon you any sort of immortality.

It's not about trying to grasp onto some sort of reality. When I'm dead I'm dead but it would be a nice feeling to know that when I am dead, my body will remain whole, floating through space. Some people like to be buried with a grave, some people like to be cremated and scattered into the ocean and I'd like to be sent into space.

I have a great obsession with space and it would just be nice to know that I'll be following the footsteps of voyager, so to speak. It's just a preference, there literally no point to it but everyone has their preferences for death right? Otherwise we'd just put people in bin bags and send them to the garbage plant.

 

[DaveC426913]

... everyone has their preferences for death right? Otherwise we'd just put people in bin bags and send them to the garbage plant.

Well, that's kind of the point.

Some of us accept that, once our chemical processes stop, the physical body is just a decaying heap of organics. There's no reason to treat it as if it's still "me", so yes, throo it on the heap. (Actually, burn it.)

The corollary supposed by such people as this is that those who want their bodies somehow "honoured" are clinging - however tentatively or unconsciously - to some sort of afterlife wish-fulfilment.

 

[russ_watters]

The corollary supposed by such people as this is that those who want their bodies somehow "honoured" are clinging - however tentatively or unconsciously - to some sort of afterlife wish-fulfilment.

I doubt that is true for many people anymore. Even for people who believe in an afterlife, the soul is separate from the body; we're not in ancient Egypt. For most I think, burial (even after cremation) is just a memorial.

 

[Garth]

I think it's more to do with the friends and relatives not only wanting a memorial so your name just doesn't disappear off the face of the Earth but also to have somewhere where they can reconnect with the memory of you. And that would be a bit difficult if your body is shot off into outer space! Although, I don't know, they could always just look up...

Garth