There has been a lot of debate about the excessive cost of sending humans to other planets compared to the cost of sending machines. The debate often focuses on capturing the imagination and support of the nation (i.e., bringing in more political support and money), which is difficult with a machine. I propose a compromise – send famous dead people to other worlds.

Let’s take famous dead people, freeze-dry or otherwise prepare them for extremely long term mummification in space, and send them along with useful robots to the moon, Mars, Jupiter’s moons or elsewhere. Their weight would be reduced by the preparation minimizing the spacecraft energy burden. No training or exceptional intelligence would be required making way for famous politicians. And their presence in some noble position (maybe saluting a flag) on another planet would satisfy the imagination of folks who need to see humans on other planets. The added attraction of a human that everyone is familiar with would be a big plus.

Just imagine if we had had this idea 30 years ago, we could have positive proof that Elvis has been sighted on Mars – in his often-worn space suit no less!
-- dweeb, Sep 04 2003

"Hat over the fence" to Space http://www.halfbake...nce_22_20to_20Space
made me think of this idea by [centauri] [krelnik, Oct 05 2004]

KITH Anal Probing Skit http://www.kithfan..../four/analprob.html
Funny. [DeathNinja, Oct 05 2004]

Dubbya tells it like it is. http://www.baseball....com/prz_qgwb.shtml
[squeak, Oct 05 2004]

Toad Leather Stuff http://www.roopooco.com/toad_intro.htm
Cool mummified toad products [dweeb, Oct 05 2004]

Not very practical, but I'd buy that for a dollar (knowing full well that I at least will never become famous).
-- k_sra, Sep 04 2003


The 'why' bit of this is completely unapparent.
-- waugsqueke, Sep 04 2003


I felt rather the same when I read Alien Hand Art and Cocktail Mice, Mr. W. Read his idea again and perhaps you will see the "why".
-- lintkeeper2, Sep 04 2003


The 'why' could possibly be similar to that of [centauri]'s idea which I linked.
-- krelnik, Sep 04 2003


I would endorse putting robotic endoskeletons into the carcasses of dead famous people and sending them to Mars to build vast metropolitan areas filled with Starbucks and McDonalds, and strewn with garbage and lawyers, so when we finally get to Mars en masse, it will feel like home.

I would also like them to interact with the martian creatures and learn from them the finer subtleties of the anal probing technique. This might actually be a *higher* priority...

-- DeathNinja, Sep 04 2003


// Mr. W. //

Why so formal? Please, call me waugs.

The reason as presented is "people will care more about dead famous people than machines". I don't think this is much of a reason, and not necessarily true in any case. I'll wait for the author's response.
-- waugsqueke, Sep 04 2003


[Waugs and others] Although this is truly halfbaked and arguable - my supposition is that although I am personally impressed with a picture of a machine running around on Mars, the pictures that sway the masses with emotion and bring in political and monetary support are those of people like Glenn walking on the moon.

When JFK pressed forward with the Saturn project - how far do you think he would have gotten beyond a few yawns with - "We will send a camera to the moon"?

One small step for a dead man, one giant step for mankind! Nice elaboration [DeathNinja].
-- dweeb, Sep 04 2003


thats a very profound link, Death.
-- po, Sep 04 2003


// how far do you think he would have gotten beyond a few yawns with - "We will send a camera to the moon"? //

Farther than he would have gotten with "We will send a famous dead person to the moon."
-- waugsqueke, Sep 04 2003


[Waugs] Good point. But what about 1 famous dead person AND a camera? - Yea - That's the ticket!
-- dweeb, Sep 04 2003


I figure we would each have a little check mark on the drivers license for planetary travel donation. You never know if or when you might become famous.
-- dweeb, Sep 04 2003


//capturing the imagination and support of the nation //

This would be that single significant world-wide super *nation* again, would it? (See: World Series...and yes I know they let one foreign team in now)
-- squeak, Sep 05 2003


[UB] I'm impressed with those toads! They really wear waistcoats in Oz?
-- FarmerJohn, Sep 05 2003


These stiffs would make good speed bumps for space craft.
-- FarmerJohn, Sep 05 2003


[UB] I added a link to the cane toad products - very cool stuff!

Pointless? HA! The idea is to capture the imagination and monetary support of Joe Q Public - not aliens. I'd kick in a few extra bucks to see a dead person on Mars - even if they weren't famous. Who wouldn't volunteer their corpse for such an trip and the notoriety. Make it a lottery!

(Although I don't think I'd be impressed with a fishbone on Mars)
-- dweeb, Sep 05 2003


The only reason why famous people are well... famous, is because it gives ordinary people hope that they themselves have at least a chance to get famous. Same with sending a human to the moon, people cared because it was a human, someone they could relate to, unlike a 3 billion dollar rocket/robot waste of taxpayer money. Not that all space experiments and launches are a waste, but just think back to the last shuttle launch.
-- EvilPickels, Nov 10 2005



random, halfbakery