Do you think they day will come when we'll have to start having burials in SPACE?

Question

Because there's scores of people dying every day, and only so much land left. Perhaps caskets will soon have booster-rockets, to propel them out and beyond Earth's orbit?

Back to vacuuming.......

Answer 1

*puts on his physics hat*

Hey, this question is a little down my alley, so I think I'll give you a serious answer this time.

First, most things launched into low Earth orbit tend to eventually come down, after a few years. If space burials were to become a common practice, most of the bodies would burn up in the atmosphere, and the rest would hit the ocean, of course. But every now and then, someone's house or car would get pelted by freeze dried, charred human remains.....

Second; even today the cost of hurling things into space is pretty ludicrous. For *every pound* that you want to send into space, it requires about 500 - 1,000 pounds of fuel, and anywhere from $750,000 to $2 million. That right, I said PER POUND. (wait, that's not exactly how I said it before......)The reason for this due to the huge amount of "kinetic energy" you need to get into orbit, and stay there.

Now, the average weight of Americans is about 185 lbs. I doubt even Bill Gates or some of his ilk would want to spend $200-400 million on their funeral.

Even if the cost of launch did come down dramatically, to, say about $1,000 / lb, I think most people would prefer to spend the money to go into space while they are *alive*, rather than sending their corpses........Then again, I've noticed that some people have very few inhibitions once they're deceased.

There actually is a company in existence called "Celestis," that will "stowaway" a tiny (7 gram) "sample" of your cremated remains into orbit, onboard a commercial satellite launch. This costs about $5,000. They have something of a long waiting list.
http://www.memorialspaceflights.com/participants.asp

I think this is a pretty brazen appeal to people's vanity. I.e. you couldn't make it into space while you were alive, like you always wanted. The next best thing is to hurl tiny bits of your charred bones over the horizon.

~WOMBAT

Answer 2

I'm hoping we'll turn back towards more realistic ancient methods... such as "burial" by fire, sea or air. At first pondering, the dearly departed as fish food or birdfeed is a bit... erm... distasteful... but it does return the dead tissue to the grand cycle of Mother Nature. And for all we know, that may be the only way in which an individual can "live on".

But littering the galaxy with the carefully preserved corpses of dead humans sounds rather more like the sort of thing our species would do.

Answer 3

The latest thing is now freezing the dead body to some very low tempature and whacking it to break it into a zillion little freeze dried pieces. Uses less energy than creamation.

Answer 4

I think that the russians had that happen where a guy's tether broke loose & he floated away,. then again, it might just have been a movie.
check out NASA's website,
creamtion is what i want & to be sprinkled in a couple places that were special to me.

Answer 5

Will keep track of family names by group. I can just imagine in my (pea sized) mind, clusters of caskets, floating in groups, tracked via satellite.

Answer 6

To be honest i don't think we will ever have to be buried in space but i think some people will choose to be. Really rich people that have nothing better to do with their money. (cough)....Paris Hilton.... (cough) that is if the freezing doesn't work for her!

Answer 7

we need to start eating the dead...
what. look how many lives could be spared in 3rd world countries.
of course, the world is populated enough, now. why make it worse?

Answer 8

First of all, thank you for your service in protecting our country. She's having a rough time coping with the loss of sibling, losing a sibling, I can only imagine, would be one of the hardest things in the world. I'm assuming she grew up with her brother, he probably protected her when she was younger, complained about their parents together, they basically had each other to grow up with... And since he has passed away, she probably feels very alone, and to be honest the love from a boyfriend or husband is not what she needs right now.. It can't help as much as the love she needs from her family. Give her some time, but if you absolutely feel that she needs you to be there for her, then despitw what she says, go give her a hug. Because sometimes a hug just lets someone know you care... Tell her you understand you can't feel that empty void she's feeling inside, tell her you understand what she's going through, and time will heal her.. And keep the memory of her brother alive.. And know that he's in a better place.

Answer 9

Yeah that'll work. I can just see you nailing a coffin at 20,000 mph in your space ship. better have a high deductible collision insurance. he he..

Answer 10

Why not- we've already filled this planet up with garbage, nowhere left to go but up.
;)