Future ways to spread my ashes

A lot of readers will not be needing to spread their ashes for quite a number of years so I thought we would take a look at some possible future ways to do it. Just as cremation has started to replace a lot of regular burials, we will see the scattering of ashes change over time. Some ways to scatter ashes today are not available to everyone due to high cost.

The space elevator and low cost commercial launchers will open up the business of putting ashes into orbit or sending them out into space. Memorial space flights are taking place today but only a small amount of ashes is taken. Finally, as we start colonizing the moon, there will be a place there on the moon for those that have decided they would rather be there than on Earth. Those that die there will surely stay there. Lunar service is supposed to start in the next decade around 2010.

Remote controlled aircraft called UAVs or unmanned aerial vehicles will be adapted for aerial scattering of ashes. Companies will be able to fly these over remote locations and scatter ashes anywhere you would like to be placed for your final resting spot.

As robotic devices become more prevalent in society, a special kind of robot will be released. Ashes will be mixed in with the material that makes the outer skin of the robot. You will be able to live on as part of a mechanical being.

Memorial structures will not just be built for remembering love ones. The structures will actually be made from ashes mixed in with the material itself. These structures will themselves become a form of mausoleum having special protection as burial sites and memorials. Another similar method will be to make individual markers from ashes and place them in a green burial site. These markers will become houses for animals and birds.

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Ashes to the Moon

Having your ashes spread in space or sent to the Moon is not a cheaper alternative to the standard burial. The process of hiring a company to blast your remains into orbit using a rocket is not a green burial. It does however exist, and for those more interested in something unique for the spreading of ashes versus a green burial, we discuss the possibility here. Celestis is a company offering memorial space flights. Space services, Inc is the company behind the space flights and they have launched some celebrity ashes into space. For those of your concerned, Celestis states that they will not create more space debris by these launches of ashes into orbit.

If you want to go one step farther and have your ashes placed on the moon , they have teamed up with another company, Odyssey Moon , to do this starting at the end of 2009. Odyssey Moon is a company participating in the Google Lunar Xprize. The Google prize is for landing a robotic probe on the moon and completing prescribed missions. It is worth $30 million dollars. The Odyssey Moon corporation intends on carrying 1000 capsules full of ashes on their first lunar mission. The lunar lander will stay on the moon with all those capsules aboard. So it isn't exactly spreading your ashes but having them interred on the moon.

The fact that your relatives will be able to look up and know that a small part of you has made it to the moon is very alluring to some. Once we start regular supply service to the moon, having your ashes placed on the moon will be more mainstream. If we ever get the space elevator going, who knows what kind of services will be offered for those wanting to go out in style.

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