January 8 2024: It’s always exciting to see a big rocket blast-off, especially one that’s not made for killing people. Even if it’s one taking the ashes of the dearly departed to the moon. Or, as it turns out, failing to do so.
The Vulcan Centaur made a predictably spectacularsight when it lifted off from Cape Canaveral in the first commercial moonshot, but at time of writing, it looked like the Peregrine Lunar Lander wouldn’t be making its delivery run. It has sprung a fuel leak, meaning the manoeuvring rockets needed to keep its solar panels towards the sun would run out of gas. Which also meant the stuff it was couriering to the moon would be somewhat delayed. Possibly until the end of time. The mission had on board the cremated remains of folk involved in Star Trek, including creator Gene Roddenberry and Nichelle Nichols, who played Lieutenant Uhura.
As well as carrying a scientific payload for various agencies, including Nasa, Astrobotics, the company running the courier service, offers a $US1.2 million per kg service to civilians and has some suggestions of mementos they might like to send. They include “sand from a favourite beach”, “a baby’s fingerprint” and – this is a gag to play on alien archaeologists who might discover them billions of years hence – a “pet tag”. Then again, it might be nice to look up at the moon one day and think, “He was a very good boy. And now he’s a lunar Rover.”
