GLOBAL ORBITAL DELIVERY SERVICES  ™

                                                                        presents

                    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