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                    THE ORBITING DEAD

By the year 2075, miniature memorial satellites named ‘GODSATS’, carrying the remains of the dead inside, will forever orbit planet earth in clusters commonly referred to as celestial graveyards.  (creative nonfiction)                                                                         

(above left)  A young child and his grandfather look up at the night sky where their loved ones remains are encased in memorial satellites named GODSATS which endlessly circle the globe in large numbers referred to as celestial graveyards.  (above right)  By the year 2075 these celestial graveyards will be observed silently moving across the nights sky in a cosmic death dance lasting epochs.  

05/27/2075

California

      “Grandpa is it time yet”   a young boy named Tommy cries out from the backyard of his southern California home just minutes after the sun has set on a clear night in the year 2075.   He is around nine or ten years old  and stands precariously on a shaky picnic table hoping the height advantage will make a difference.   Straining his neck he incessantly looks up at the ever darkening sky.   After being ignored he tries again, “I think he’s coming….hurry pa”  this time with more vigor in his voice.   

      Seconds later an elderly man rushes out of the back patio door while stopping for a brief moment to close the screen door behind him.  In his rush Tommy had obviously forgot to close it.  The  man is carrying two sets of peculiar dark colored eye-wear.  The boy snaps his head away from the sky for only a brief second making sure his Grandpa has not forgotten anything.  “I’m coming Tommy, I’m coming”  the old man finally responds looking up at his anxious grandson.   “Hurry, hurry”  the boy insists reaching out his hand while maintaining his balancing act on the oscillating picnic table.  Regardless of all of this, Tommy remains completely focused on the same patch of western sky.  All of a sudden faint star like objects begin appearing  just above the horizon and  are tracking across the sky  from west to east.  They are difficult to see however with the naked eye.  

       The young boy snatches the glasses from his grandpa’s grasp and places them over his eyes like you would a regular pair of sun or 3D glasses.  His Grandfather scrambles to do the same.   “That’s much better”  Tommy says as he adjusts the eye wear.   Seconds later, “Here he comes”   the boy confirms his earlier observation with now two set of eyes gazing towards a group of what looks like slow moving stars arriving in formation from the west.  “I see him!” Tommys grandfather enthusiastically shouts out,  “and his mother is right behind him”  a long pause follows while the boy seems to be at a loss for words.   

     Tommy takes off his eye-ware and begins rubbing his eyes.   He peers down at his Grandfather who he now towers over while standing on the three and a half foot high table.  “Grandpa, when I die will I be up there with my dad and grandma for eternity.”  the boy asks in a soft tone hoping to be reassured.  His grandfather removes his glasses and looks up at his grandson “One day son we will all be satellites of the earth,.”  The two exchange smiles before putting their eye-wear back on and return to following the ever growing cluster of moving lights streaking across the nights sky.

 

    As time goes on and spaceflight becomes more affordable to people everywhere,  the final resting place of loved ones will not be six feet under,  but thousands of miles above in the opposite direction.  In the year 2075 cosmic tombstones orbiting the earth in large clusters referred to as ‘Celestial Cemeteries’ will become a popular final resting place for almost everyone on planet earth who passes on.

    In recent years companies such as SpaceX have flown the remains of several deceased celebrities on board their Dragon spacecraft including legendary Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.  After the flight Roddenberry’s ashes would have been removed from the capsule and handed back to his surviving family members.  Most likely his remains were placed in an urn and displayed over a fireplace or somewhere special where he can be remembered by friends and family.  If given the opportunity however,  I’m sure Roddenberry would have preferred to remain up in space for epochs while circling his home planet in a seemingly endless cosmic death dance.   

   These future memorial satellites, also referred to as ‘GODSATS’ (short for Global Orbital Delivery Satellites), will have strong reflective properties similar to Sputnik, the first earth satellite launched in 1957 by the former Soviet Union.   Sputnik was an 184 pound glimmering silver sphere around the size of a basketball.  When this miniature socialist intruder flew over parts of the United States it was tracked by anxious Americans on the ground using the aid of binoculars or a small telescope.  

     By the year 2075 anyone looking up at a clear night sky may be treated to the sight of hundreds or even thousands of shiny cosmic tombstones orbiting the planet in clustered or grouped celestial graveyards eerily moving in silence across the heavens.  The memorial satellites will come in many different shapes and sizes including an assortment of colors with varying degrees of brightness.  Private aerospace companies including SpaceX and Virgin Galactic will safely jettison these tiny satellites during routine trips to orbit.  Family members may also be on board the spacecraft taking part in a remembrance service just minutes before their loved ones are ejected into the vacuum of space thus becoming a permanent moon or satellite around planet earth.  

     Using the example at the beginning of this article with Tommy and his Grandfather,  family members and friends of the deceased would have access to special aids or tracking devices allowing them  a clearer view while assisting them in identifying their loved ones memorial marker as it streaks across the sky.   

       Like in graveyards around the world today,  cosmic tombstone will also compete against one another for attention using bigger and brighter ‘GODSATS’ for everyone to see.   These ubiquitous space urns will alter in size from that of a basketball, to as little as a tennis ball.   

    Other options or funeral packages will allow the customer to select specific mission profiles or orbital velocities ranging from highly elliptical orbits to circular ones.  Altitudes can be maintained anywhere from Low Earth Orbit (around 200 miles) or as far out as geosynchronous/geostationary orbit or 35,786 kilometers above earth.  With the later the GODSAT will forever remain above the same patch of sky mimicking communication satellites.  

     The future holds many surprises including what will happen to all of us after we die. The great Russian rocket pioneer Konstantin Edvardovich Tsiolkovsky believed gravity imprisoned the spirit and that a person, alive or dead,  who one day had the ability to escape the grasp of this invisible and menacing force, would be free to wander the universe for all eternity.  

     Perhaps by the year 2075,  heads will no longer bow down to honor the deceased as they rest in peace under six feet of topsoil, but raised up towards the heavens while the souls of the dead float free of earth’s gravity and cosmic tombstones are on display for all the world to see.  A profound resting place worthy of a galactic king or queen.     

Wilfred Ashley McIsaac

   

                

     

       

ADVANCED ROCKETS AND SPACECRAFT MAY SAVE YOUR LIFE ONE DAY IN THE NEAR FUTURE

Move over space tourism, in the future advanced rockets and spacecraft will have more important tasks to keep busy with besides becoming a cosmic tour train.

Wilfred Ashley McIsaac

GLOBAL ORBITAL DELIVERY SERVICES

   

    As aerospace technology including the advancements of rockets and spacecraft move forward at a seemingly unstoppable pace,  the future in express services to the most remote locations on planet Earth will become shockingly fast.  While most private aerospace companies are now concentrating on sending paying customers into low earth orbit; others, such as Global Orbital Delivery Services,  are looking for better ways of using this future technology for more practical purposes on planet earth.

     From sending medical supplies to impoverished nations suffering from a natural disaster, drought, or some other catastrophe; to shipping out emergency spare parts or critical operating equipment for big industry.  

    Yes, the list of what a autonomous descending spacecraft can accomplish, one which can lift off and land anywhere on the planet in under an hour, is long indeed.  Here are just three very dramatically different examples of why rockets in the future will improve life on our planet while flying at or below low earth orbit.

Disaster Relief

    The powerful typhoon that has recently devastated parts of the Philippines (left pic above) was a reminder to all of us of how quickly conditions on our planet can change in a very short time and paralyze a country within hours.   In the future behind companies such as ‘XCOR Aerospace, Spacex,  Virgin Galactic, etc; and through the support of World Health Organizations including Unicef, help can arrive (right pic) almost immediately from anywhere in the world carrying important medical supplies, food, and water.

      Imagine the surprise from victims of such devastation when within minutes, space capsules, in a controlled descent, begin landing around the devastation carrying life saving supplies.   

Big Industry

     The same express analogy also applies to the shipment of critical operating supplies to big industry such as oil refineries.   Imagine a giant rig in the South Pacific suddenly shut down because of a critical part or instrument breaking down.   With no back-up on board and civilization thousands of miles away,  it would normally take one or two days to have the necessary equipment or replacement parts shipped in to resolve the situation.   As precious time goes by the operating company stands to lose millions of dollars.  

     With the autonomous controlled descent of a rocket's upper stage in the not too distant future,  the emergency supply vehicle can land on the deck of any ship or oil rig within a very short time of being called into action.  Like a helicopter but with no pilot and no propellers.   Instead of losing precious time waiting for conventional transportation currently in use,   the workers watch as within hours or even minutes a rocket lands on deck carrying new equipment.  The employees are back to work almost immediately.  

Buried In Space

   While this revolutionary technology will be able to save countless amount of lives from around the world,  it will also have the capability of giving people a funeral and final resting place suitable for a galactic king or queen.  Space urns carrying the remains of loved ones will be jettisoned from low earth orbiting spacecraft while the deceased begin quietly circling the planet for hundreds if not thousands of years inside memorial type satellites no bigger than a tennis ball.   

    In recent years companies such as Spacex have flown the remains of several deceased celebrities on board their Dragon spacecraft including legendary Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.  If given the option these same people would rather remain up in space for eternity while they endlessly loop around their home planet in a cosmic death dance.

     Perhaps,  some of these memorial satellites will have strong reflective properties which at night can be seen from the ground.  In time an astronomer or anyone for that matter looking up at the heavens may see hundreds or even thousands of these cosmic tombstones orbiting our planet in celestial graveyards eerily moving across the night sky.  

     So the future is looking up (sort of speak) for the aerospace community in more ways than one.   Besides space tourism and trips to the moon and mars,  spacecraft relegated to low earth orbit may surprise you while one day saving your life or morbidly displaying your physical remains for all the world to see.   

     Perhaps,  some of these memorial satellites will have strong reflective properties which at night can be seen from the ground.  In time an astronomer or anyone for that matter looking up at the heavens may see hundreds or even thousands of these cosmic tombstones orbiting our planet in celestial graveyards eerily moving across the night sky.  

     

ROCKET MAIL PROGRAM ENDS IN EASTERN ONTARIO WITH FINAL FLIGHT

ROCKET MAIL PROGRAM ENDS IN EASTERN ONTARIO WITH FINAL FLIGHT

                                 

On Tuesday the final flight of Wilfred Ashley McIsaac’s Canadian high powered rocket mail program blasted off from the Gananoque airport in eastern Ontario carrying mail with 1936 Gerhard Zucker ‘First Canadian Rocket-Flight’ postal stamps attached.

November 7th, 2012

     A nearly six foot high powered test rocket lifted off from the Gananoque airport in eastern Ontario on Tuesday carrying a variety of electronics (EB1 and EB2 [electronics bay 1 and electronics bay 2] in nose cone and booster) as well as twelve pieces of mail with rare 1936 ‘First Canadian Rocket-Flight’ postal stamps attached.

   The 3.42 pound Astrobee D IV was a revised Astrobee D high powered scale rocket originally produced by Aerotech in the United States.  A long list of changes were made to the launch vehicle including the addition of two integral black powder side boosters which were to give the rocket almost forty pounds of thrust.

    Unfortunately during Tuesday’s launch attempt the twin boosters failed to ignite followed by an onboard backup system malfunction.  A similar incident took place on June 29th to a Astrobee D III rocket during the third test flight of the program when three strap-on boosters didn’t ignite and the rocket crashed into a cornfield.  On Tuesday’s launch however the Astrobee D IV remained stable throughout the entire twenty-five second test flight confirming the rockets center of gravity and center of pressure were redesigned correctly. Although the altitude was much lower than expected (prior to flight 2000 feet was calculated and only near 800 feet was reached) the 1 and ½ stage rocket did release it’s payload section (Canadian mail) on time while the recovery system returned the upper stage across the airfield shortly downrange.   The booster landed not far from the payload section after making a hard landing due to a parachute malfunction.

   Tuesdays launch was the final flight of a Canadian rocket mail program dating back to October 31st, 2011 with the ultra successful single motor ARCAS high powered rocket made by Aerotech.   According to the ‘Air Mails Of Canada And Newfoundland’ these mail flights are the first and only in Canada’s history to carry official Canadian rocket mail postal stamps on board and later recovered safely.   Back in 1936 a German businessman named Gerhard Zucker produced the first and only series of stamps intended to be launched inside a rocket in Canada however Zucker was arrested by the Gestapo before he could make the trip across the Atlantic Ocean himself.  As per official record the stamps were never launched in this country until 2011 when rocket experimenter Wilfred Ashley McIsaac commenced his private rocket mail program seventy-five years after the fact near the Thousand Islands in eastern Ontario.  Following Tuesday's launch attempt most of the previously unflown Canadian rocket mail stamps from the 1936 Zucker collection have now made a trip inside one of McIsaac’s rockets.

     Since the programs inception most of the nicely decorated mail covers designed by McIsaac himself have been auctioned off on Ebay by a company on the west coast of the United States named Gemada Stamps.  11 of the 12 covers from the November 6th test launch will make the same trip south of the border and should be available on Ebay through Gemada Stamps before Christmas.  McIsaac, who suffers from long term health issues including rheumatoid arthritis will donate $200 to the Arthritis Foundation on behalf of the Canadian rocket mail program.   In the future more test flights are expected to take place with the three motor Astrobee D IV while the rocket's payload bay will only carry ballast weight.

 

  

(left) Wilfred Ashley McIsaac shows off his precious cargo following Tuesdays rocket mail flight in eastern Ontario.   The letters were later officially cancelled at the nearest post office in Gananoque,Ontario. (right) The upper payload section was returned to the ground safely under a bright orange parachute.    Pictures provided by my Father, Rennie McIsaac.

A short circuit in the booster ignition system may have been the cause of the integrated side booster malfunction.  The test flight did prove however the Astrobee D IV was stable and that future launches could continue.

ASTROBEE D IV © ROCKET ROARS OFF THE LAUNCH PAD IN GANANOQUE, ONTARIO

The skies above the cracked runways of the Gananoque airport in eastern Ontario came alive Thursday afternoon (October 17th,2013) after Wilfred Ashley McIsaac launched a large two stage solid fuel hybrid (composite and black powder) high powered rocket.  In the rocketry world McIsaac is best known for his October 31st, 2011 rocket launch which carried Canadian mail on board including never before flown ‘First Canadian Rocket-Flight’ postage stamps from 1936.  

        

 The Astrobee D IV © High Powered Rocket was launched and recovered yesterday (10-17-13) at the Gananoque Airport in eastern Ontario after completing its second successful test flight in the past eleven months.  The solid fueled hybrid rocket was powered by twin black powdered integral side boosters as well as a much more powerful composite solid fuel main engine.  

    Last November this same rocket completed the fourth and final flight of McIsaac’s rocket mail program although the launch was only partially successful.  During the flight the twin side boosters failed to ignite however the launch proved the rockets design to be sound.   During Thursday's launch attempt the Astrobee D IV © carried the SPAK science package blasting a hundred grams of reflective powder into the atmosphere.   The line-of-sight experiment was inconclusive however the experiment itself was deployed properly and on time.  

    Seconds after the rocket roared off the launch pad,  the left integral side boosters nose cone detached from the vehicle and fell to the ground.   After analyzing the telemetry as well as examining the rocket the cause of this booster malfunction has already been determined.

     A vent hole located near the forward end of the left integral booster was accidentally covered up resulting in a buildup of high pressure gasses.    The increased internal air pressure inside the smaller booster (caused by gases released from the black powder motor) forced the nose cone, which may not have been properly secured, to pop off early in the flight.  Once the nose cone was separated and when the black powder rocket fuel in the booster was consumed, the high wind speeds being squeezed through the now uncovered or exposed body tube ripped the motor casing out of the aft end along with the engine hook which usually helps keep the motor secure.  Flight data recovered from the Astrobee D IV © rocket support these findings.   

    Although the nose cone incident reduced the apogee or peak altitude of the rocket,  both the main booster and upper stage payload returned to the ground safely under their own recovery systems approximately 1500 feet north east of the launch pad.  Electronics Bay #1 (nose cone) and Electronics Bay #2 (aft booster) performed flawlessly during the flight including recording important telemetry or on board flight data.  

     The next launch of the Astrobee D IV © high powered rocket  is scheduled for late November or early December. The on board flight cameras used on previous launches will return when the Astrobee D IV flies again..   

ASTROBEE D IV(C) OCTOBER 17TH, 2013 FLIGHT DATA

FLIGHT #:  2

WEIGHT:  3.55 lbs

TOTAL MAX. THRUST: 38.4 lbs

STAGES:  1 ½

ALTITUDE:   600-700 feet (expected altitude was 1000 feet)

VELOCITY:  160 feet per second

ACCELERATION:  7.07 g’s

MAIN MOTOR BURNOUT:  2.6 seconds

AVERAGE ON BOARD TEMPERATURE:  63.8 f

KALMAN FILTER APOGEE:  6.2 seconds  

NOTES:  The G77-7 redline motor was designed to have a 7 second delay.  However,  during Thursday’s launch

                the delay was recorded at only 3.6  seconds.  This resulted in a 3.4 second loss in flight time or 544 feet in    

                altitude.  

1936 ZUCKER STAMPS ROCKET MAILED IN CANADA

 A private rocket experimenter in Canada named Wilfred Ashley McIsaac launched the last of his high powered rockets on November 6th, 2012, carrying Canadian mail on board.  A total of thirty-one letters using a variety of original 1936 Gerhard Zucker  ‘ Canadian Rocket-Flight’ postage stamps have taken flight in four separate rocket flights at an old World War II relief airfield outside Gananoque, Ontario near The Thousand Islands, Canada.

    The rocket mail program commenced on October 31st, 2011 with the launch of an ARCAS high powered rocket carrying seven mail covers with Zucker ‘First Canadian Rocket-Flight’ postage attached.  According to the ‘Air Mails Of Canada And Newfoundland’ the stamps are the first rocket mail postage made for Canada and were intended to take flight in an actual rocket. However Gerhard Zucker, the German businessman/rocket engineer responsible for the stamps was arrested by the Gestapo under Adolf Hitler's orders and unable to leave the country.  A reluctant friend named Karl H. Hennin Sr. was recruited by Zucker to travel to New York in his place. Hennin arrived in time for the 1936 Philatelic Exhibition on Lexington Avenue with the Canadian stamps, cachets, and even one of Zuckers mail rockets.   Worried of Nazi reprisals however Hennin kept a low profile during his stay in New York while the Zucker collection vanished into obscurity.  

    No rocket mail stamps in Canada’s history had ever taken flight in a rocket until McIsaac’s launch seventy-five years later using these very same stamps.   The Halloween 2011 launch was fired in a parabolic trajectory before reaching an estimated 2500 feet in altitude while crossing county lines and eventually returning back to the airfield in Gananoque, Ontario.  The incredible flight was captured by an onboard HD Gopro camera which has since gone viral on YouTube.  

    Three more mail flights have taken place in 2012 behind the Aerotech Astrobee D rocket and the upgraded Astrobee D III, and Astrobee D IV one and ½ stage rockets designed by McIsaac himself.  On June 29th the Astrobee D III crashed into a cornfield outside Gananoque after suffering from strap-on booster ignition problems.  The rocket as well as two onboard cameras were destroyed in the crash with damages estimated at over $700.  Seven pieces of mail hidden in a protected partition received only minor damage.

    Tuesdays launch had similar booster problems however this time the rocket activated its recovery system on time and the upper payload returned safely to the ground under a bright orange parachute.  Twelve pieces of mail were recovered immediately from the cargo bay and shuttled across the airfield to the nearest post office in the small town of Gananoque where they were either cancelled or simply mailed through the Canadian postal service. More test flights with the Astrobee D IV are expected to take place in the future although the rocket's payload bay will carry only ballast weight.

   The unique covers from McIsaac’s Canadian rocket mail program are now available on Ebay through Gemada Stamps and come with a certificate of authenticity.