StardustME celebrates first memorial flight to the stars aboard Falcon 9 rocket
Aboard Falcon 9 rocket’s 199th mission to space was the first payload of New Zealand-based company StardustME. The company specializes in organizing memorial flights of people’s ashes into space.
image source: StardustME
Falcon 9’s payload included mostly Starlink satellites, but also the ION Satellite Carrier by Italian-based company D-Orbit. The carrier had four payloads onboard, including the ashes of five New Zealanders.
StartdustME promises affordable memorial flights to the stars and beyond on its website. Flights start at $2995 New Zealand Dollar, which is about $1912 US Dollar and €1762 Euro.
The company uses “purpose-built capsules” to store 1g of the ashes of a person. Each capsule is prepared individually and may contain up to 18 characters in two lines of laser engraved text. The company has partnered with the Space Institue at Auckland University to “use the strictest safety and security measures” and ensure “that ashes are treated with utmost care and attention”.
The capsules are placed as payloads into SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets and released to space once the rocket reaches its destination in low-earth orbit. Capsules will orbit earth for about 5 years, according to the description on the website.
They are “mounted in a state-of-the-art satellite” and may be observed on the night sky in real-time.
The system supports notifications that inform people on earth when the satellite that is carrying the ashes is passing over a specific location on earth. The capsules stay in orbit for around 5 years before they re-enter Earth’s atmosphere.
StardustME’s explains the entire process on a how it works webpage. Ashes are sent to the company by funeral homes. The token ist tested by the Aukland University Space Institute and prepared individually with an engraving. The components that are used have been engineered for space environment. They meet SpaceX’s requirements and have also been used in the past by NASA.
The capsules will be aboard a Falcon 9 rocket that is either launching from Cape Canaveral or Vandenberg. After successful deployment in space, details “attesting the success of the launch” are provided. Details include the “official spacecraft tracking ID assigned by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)”.
Thank you for being a Ghacks reader. The post StardustME celebrates first memorial flight to the stars aboard Falcon 9 rocket appeared first on gHacks Technology News.
gHacks Technology News
