Didn't they send his ashes up already? How much ash do they have left, in case there is another malfunction? Are the ashes compacted, or will settling occur during transport?
So, what you're saying is, when alien explorers eventually stumble across Mr. and Mrs. Roddenberry's ashes floating serenely through the vacuum of deep space, they'll also find reams and reams of steamy Kirk/Spock slash fiction?
@evildead1971: Almost no DNA survives cremation, dude. The temperatures and chemical reactions of fire pretty much destroys all DNA leaving only carbon ash. If Gene and Majel launched locks of hair into deep space, yes, maybe there's a chance they'd be cloned by ETs or future archeologists.
And even if they were cloned, they wouldn't be Gene or Majel. These new individuals might inherit the biologically caused personality traits but their memories and experiences would be totally different.
@corpore-metal: Technically, not even if hair (By which you probably mean skin cells attached to the hair, hair is a protein filament, it has no DNA.) was sent. You have any idea what the shelf life is on human DNA samples even with our longest term support structure?
Me neither. However, as the current travel time to the nearest star is longer than we have existed on earth, I doubt it would last the voyage even in a perfect vacuum.
Excuse me for a moment while I draw an extraordinarily dorky connection that is probably entirely irrelevant.
I just finished reading the Doctor Who novel "Alien Bodies," in which the 3rd Doctor buries Laika the cosmonaut dog (this one little part is why I read the book) on some random moon, and later there is another funeral on this moon as well. And, separately in the story, there's an alien race called the Celestis who oversee an afterlife of some sort.
I'm sure there's some significantly less esoteric reason why the company is named Celestis, but if I can't point out this admittedly ridiculous connection on io9, where can I?
I didn't know you could get Earth orbit for about $1,300. While the price of my ashes going to the moon or into deep space is about half of my yearly salary, $1,300 is quite doable. In fact, it's doable enough for me to shoot my dad up into orbit too, with Gene Roddenberry, just like he's always wanted.
01/27/09
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And even if they were cloned, they wouldn't be Gene or Majel. These new individuals might inherit the biologically caused personality traits but their memories and experiences would be totally different.
01/27/09
Me neither. However, as the current travel time to the nearest star is longer than we have existed on earth, I doubt it would last the voyage even in a perfect vacuum.
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01/27/09
11/16/08
I just finished reading the Doctor Who novel "Alien Bodies," in which the 3rd Doctor buries Laika the cosmonaut dog (this one little part is why I read the book) on some random moon, and later there is another funeral on this moon as well. And, separately in the story, there's an alien race called the Celestis who oversee an afterlife of some sort.
I'm sure there's some significantly less esoteric reason why the company is named Celestis, but if I can't point out this admittedly ridiculous connection on io9, where can I?
11/16/08
11/16/08
11/16/08
I'd prefer my corpse. What if an alien species discovers it and learns about our race from my remains? Talk about after-death productivity!
11/16/08