Memorial spaceflights have been the promise to see the night sky as a poetic and eternal memorial to commemorate a departed loved one anytime and anywhere. While families and individuals all over the world have been choosing this new kind of celebration, a frustrating fact was that orbital launch opportunities for such services were still extremely rare, with waiting time sometimes up to a decade, in an industry still dominated by multi-million dollar governmental and commercial space missions.
This is about to change: memorial spaceflight pioneering company Elysium Space is partnering with Spaceflight, the leading provider of launch and mission management services, to offer yearly services to families, drastically reducing the wait time from years to months. The next spaceflight is already confirmed and scheduled for late 2017. Several hundred families are expected to join this historical event. Among the close to 100 already booked participants are U.S. veterans, aerospace enthusiasts, and families looking to celebrate a loved one within the poetry of the starry sky. Reservations are open today on Elysium Space website starting at $2,490.
“Our mission is to assist families in achieving their dreams and curating a meaningful celestial celebration in the most timely manner. This partnership with Spaceflight is revolutionary as it will provide frequent launch opportunities with the privilege to ride the most reliable rockets in the world,” said Thomas Civeit, founder and CEO of Elysium Space.
The Elysium spacecraft will be the first CubeSat (a class of nano-satellite known for disrupting the space industry) ever launched for such purpose. It will carry loved one ashes, lock of hairs, or meaningful mementos provided by the participants. The spacecraft will be deployed on a Sun synchronous orbit to ensure it will pass over every location in the world during its journey through the stars that will last about 2 years, before re-entering the atmosphere as a shooting star. To provide the most connective experience, the free iOS/Android Elysium mobile app will display the memorial spacecraft location in real time, and the spacecraft will have a polished aluminum “mirrored” exterior surface that will reflect the Sun’s light. This means that it will at times be visible on Earth in the night sky using binoculars, or possibly even with the naked eye near the end of its journey; the visibility gradually improving over time as the spacecraft altitude will decrease.
“CubeSats are an important part of the growing small satellite industry, and we are excited to help one of the more unique companies and applications in space execute on their business plan,” said Curt Blake, President of Spaceflight.
While Spaceflight is leading the new space revolution by offering to the space industry the most access to global launch opportunities along with comprehensive launch services, Elysium Space is proudly democratizing access to space even further to the level of individuals and families.
ABOUT ELYSIUM SPACE
Elysium Space is a unique team of space and funeral experts, combining experience from major NASA space missions and deep-rooted funeral profession knowledge. Its wide background goes from space systems engineering to anthropology and funeral directing. Elysium Space believes that the time to change the vision of death from the Underground to the Celestial is now. The company is dedicated to offer everlasting celestial services to the world and celebrate the significance of lives that have been lived with dignity and honor. Elysium Space was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in San Francisco, CA. For more information, visit: http://elysiumspace.com.
Photo Package: ElysiumSpaceflightPackage.zip
For more information regarding this announcement please contact:
media@elysiumspace.com
benjamin@elysiumspace.com, Benjamin Joffe, Director of Communications, Elysium Space
