A SPACE capsule carrying the remains of 166 people and a bounty of cannabis plants has been lost at sea following a surprise crash.
The Nyx capsule, built by German aerospace startup The Exploration Company, launched on 23 June from atop a SpaceX rocket.
All of its cargo has been lost at sea[/caption]
But the rideshare mission – where several companies pay for space aboard the capsule for their payloads – has gone awry after going missing.
It’s not just any payload either – but the ashes and DNA of 166 people who had signed up for a cosmic funerary service with Celestis, a Texas-based memorial spaceflight company.
The flight, dubbed “Mission Possible”, achieved orbit and a controlled reentry into Earth’s atmosphere.
However, the capsule’s landing parachutes failed to deploy – causing it to crash in the Pacific Ocean on 24 June.
All of its cargo has been lost at sea.
This was The Exploration Company’s first attempt at sending customer payloads to space, equivalent to roughly 300 kg (660 lbs) of cargo.
In a statement on LinkedIn, the company wrote: “The capsule was launched successfully, powered the payloads nominally in-orbit, stabilised itself after separation with the launcher, re-entered and re-established communication after black out.
“But it encountered an issue afterwards, based on our current best knowledge, and we lost communication a few minutes before splashdown.
“We apologise to all our clients who entrusted us with their payloads.”
The company said it is still investigating the root causes of the crash as it prepares for its next flight.
“This partial success reflects both ambition and the inherent risks of innovation,” the company wrote.
“Leveraging the technical milestones achieved yesterday and the lessons we will extract from our ongoing investigation, we will then prepare to re-fly as soon as possible.”
Space funerary services, offered by companies like Celestis and Aura Flights, involve sending cremated remains into space.
These services offer various options, including suborbital flights, orbital flights, and even grave plots on the Moon.
The Exploration Company said it is still investigating the root causes of the crash as it prepares for its next flight[/caption]
This is the second time Celestis has lost a payload.
In 2023, a rocket containing the cremated remains of the late Nasa astronaut Philip K. Chapman exploded over New Mexico.
Celestis also released a statement to the families of the people whose remains were lost: “In the coming days, our team will reach out to each family individually to offer support and discuss possible next steps.
“Though we currently believe that we cannot return the flight capsules, we hope families will find some peace in knowing their loved ones were part of a historic journey, launched into space, orbited Earth, and are now resting in the vastness of the Pacific, akin to a traditional and honored sea scattering.”
Alongside the human remains and other payloads, Nyx also carried cannabis plant matter and seeds provided by Martian Grow, an open-source citizen science project.
The purpose was to study the effects of microgravity on the germination and resilience of plants.
The project aims to understand how plant life could adapt on Mars.
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