Hope you all are doing well!
Does anyone know of a source that says that a dead body needs to be buried in the ground on this planet only and burying it on another planet or stellar body like the moon will be forbidden?
My question in other words would be, "Do you know of a source in the Torah/Halacha that says that it is okay to bury a dead body on another planet"?
Thank you for your replies!
Halacha rarely discusses cases so hypothetical so it is unlikely there are actual sources for this specific question. In a general sense however, the Shulchan Aruch (YD 362:1) says that people must be buried in the ground. Even if you were to argue that the ground of other planets is also ground, given the chemical nature of other planets and the way they would destroy a corpse buried there it would probably be a bizyon hames (desecration of the dead) similar to cremation to do so. Furthermore if the person did not die on the other planet the amount of time it would take to get there would be a forbidden delay in the burial as the Torah says people are to be buried on the day of death.(Some are of the opinion that this obligation is Rabbinic) If the question is the opposite, the person was on the other planet and died and the question is returning the body to Earth it would possibly fall into one of the categories listed in Shulchan Aruch (YD 357:1) when it is permitted to delay burial to honor the deceased.
