Celestis, a US-based company that specialises in launching cremated human remains into space will carry its next human remains in 2021. This process of cremation is also called space burial. Human remains will be sent in capsules to the Moon where the remains will be left as orbital memorials.
The company announced that they chose Moon as the feature host for their Celestis Luna Service. For the project, they will take the help of MoonEx which is a privately funded commercial space company.
“The Moon is a part of human culture and our partnership with Celestis will help connect people to the Moon on an even more personal level,” said Bob Richards, co-founder, and CEO, Moon Express, Inc in a blog post.
The orbital company Celestis will launch its Luna 02 mission in July 2021. The launching site is a region of the Moon called Lacus Mortis. The mission will take human remains and DNA samples to that region of the Moon. The aim of the trip is a futuristic honor of dead humans when space travel becomes commonplace.
“Driven by long-term goals of exploring and developing lunar resources for the benefit of humanity, the company has short-term business on-ramps of providing lunar transportation and services for government and commercial customers,” said Celestis in a blog post
Who are on the Flight
In the upcoming mission, the remains of famous teachers, scientists, and Sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke, who wrote the “Space Odyssey” book which was adapted into a film named “2001: A Space Odyssey,” in 1986 will be taken.
In the Space Odyssey series, Clarke described Moon as the home of a fictional alien monolith. This part of the book was created visually by filmmaker Stanley Kubrick in his 1986 epic movie “2001: A Space Odyssey”.
Other famous personalities on this trip include Mareta West, the late geologist who played a crucial role in deciding the landing site for the first human Moon mission. Ashes of Liam Anand, who lost his life at the age of 16 due to a motorbike accident.
Cost of burial on Moon
The Luna 02 mission is not the first one by the company in fact this is the 18th spaceflight mission. In their earlier missions, the company launched portions of human remains into suborbital and Earth orbit.
The company believes that as humanity is looking to expand its limits to more than one planet, carrying out rituals in space is appropriate. For those who are interested in sending remains of their loved one, reservations for the upcoming Luna 02 mission starts at a price tag of $12,500.
Pikachu’s memorial
Celestis launched a mission in the past to cremate remains into orbit. Among the remains taken had remains of a cat named Pikachu. Besides, many companies sent human remains in this mission to orbit in a Cubesat.
“I wanted Pikachu to be the first and continue his legacy as an explorer and show the world that a cat is just as worthy as a dog of a special tribute,” said Munt to Space.com. The cat lost its life following a hard battle with diabetes.
Cat owner, Steve Munt bought the ticket for sending ashes of Pickachu’s into space. Besides, he ran a campaign on GoFundMe to help him with $5,000. The campaign managed to raise $2,460 from 97 donors.
The company already launched the remains of two dogs into orbit before Pikachu’s trip. In the orbit, the ashes will remain until they are vaporized once they reach the atmosphere.