What are the laws actually guiding issues like this? Who actually owns space bodies? Is outer space actually a no man’s land?
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A billionaire may not have the resources to buy the rocket. He won’t be developing a new one, but he may be able to buy one that is capable to deliver his corpse into the moon.
There is really no such thing as international law. Countries do what they want. If one or more country don’t like what they’re doing then they can bring their military or economic sanctions against them to bend them to their will. International law operates under the most fundamental law–might makes right. If you give some country enough money they’ll let you launch your rocket from their territory–once again a billionaire might not have the resources.
When I say billionaire I mean someone worth about 1 billion. This is not quite worth what it used to. It may be enough, but you may need a few more billions to pay off governments to allow you to launch and purchase an existing rocket, and the personal required to launch your rocket. If you truly want to be buried and not just crash into the moon, you’ll probably need significantly more money, but it could be done.
Getting your ashes shot into orbit is doable right now. Only one person has managed a moon burial thus far (likewise, only one person has managed to get onto a deep space mission), but it’s probably possible to get a slot reserved for a moon mission.
Getting your ashes shot into orbit is doable right now. Only one person has managed a moon burial thus far (likewise, only one person has managed to get onto a deep space mission), but it’s probably possible to get a slot reserved for a moon mission.
Getting your ashes shot into orbit is doable right now. Only one person has managed a moon burial thus far (likewise, only one person has managed to get onto a deep space mission), but it’s probably possible to get a slot reserved for a moon mission.
A will isn’t a magic genie lamp. You can’t put anything you like in a will and just expect it to magically happen. Even if the deceased was a billionaire, and had sufficient resources in their estate to achieve this, the technology existed to do it, and it wasn’t against any laws, regulations, treaties, etc; ultimately it’s up to the executor of the will whether they adhere to such requests.
If any stakeholder in the estate disagrees with the executor’s decision to follow or not follow certain requests, they can fight about it in court. But until moon colonisation and affordable commercial travel become a reality, expecting your body to be buried on the moon is pretty unreasonable and will easily be overturned by any sane court.
A will isn’t a magic genie lamp. You can’t put anything you like in a will and just expect it to magically happen. Even if the deceased was a billionaire, and had sufficient resources in their estate to achieve this, the technology existed to do it, and it wasn’t against any laws, regulations, treaties, etc; ultimately it’s up to the executor of the will whether they adhere to such requests.
If any stakeholder in the estate disagrees with the executor’s decision to follow or not follow certain requests, they can fight about it in court. But until moon colonisation and affordable commercial travel become a reality, expecting your body to be buried on the moon is pretty unreasonable and will easily be overturned by any sane court.
A will isn’t a magic genie lamp. You can’t put anything you like in a will and just expect it to magically happen. Even if the deceased was a billionaire, and had sufficient resources in their estate to achieve this, the technology existed to do it, and it wasn’t against any laws, regulations, treaties, etc; ultimately it’s up to the executor of the will whether they adhere to such requests.
If any stakeholder in the estate disagrees with the executor’s decision to follow or not follow certain requests, they can fight about it in court. But until moon colonisation and affordable commercial travel become a reality, expecting your body to be buried on the moon is pretty unreasonable and will easily be overturned by any sane court.
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