On the downside, those who want to watch a loved one's ashes being sent into the air have to cough out $7,500 (€5,900)

Oct 14, 2014 18:57 GMT  ·  By

Funerals might be about grief and saying goodbye for the families and friends of the deceased, but they're also big business for companies that are imaginative enough to turn one such unfortunate event into a show. By the looks of it, Kentucky-based Mesoloft is one such company.

Thus, Mesoloft's working agenda boils down to organizing so-called stratospheric funerals. What the heck is a stratospheric funeral, some might want to ask? Well, it's actually no different to scattering a loved one's ashes over a field of daisies.

The only difference is that, rather than carrying out this task themselves, friends and family entrust Mesoloft with the deceased one's remains. Company employees then use a balloon to fly them 20 miles (32 kilometers) above Earth.

Once they reach this impressive height, the ashes are released and fall back on the ground. As detailed in the video below, Mesoloft claims that the remains have high chances to be carried by winds all around the world.

“Sand from dust storms in the Sahara desert has been traced in California, so we're confident when we say these ashes might go around the world,” the Kentucky-based company said in a statement, as cited by Huffingon Post.

Stratospheric funerals are not easy to organize

Mesoloft co-founder Chris Winfield and colleagues explain that, before finally offering customers stratospheric funerals, they carried out a series of tests looking to figure out which types of balloons best suited their plans.

More precisely, they had to figure out exactly how much helium to put inside the balloons to make sure that the ashes would reach the promised height. Besides, they had to find launch sites where trees did not pose a threat to the helium-powered ashes-carrying contraptions.

“We did about 10 test flights using ashes – not the human kind,” Chris Winfield explained in a recent interview. “Trees are not our friend. We need to do this in big open areas, where we have open access,” the Mesoloft co-founder added.

So, how much for such a funeral?

It is understood that those wishing to send a deceased loved one's remains high up in the air need pay $2,800 (€2,200). In exchange for this money, Mesoloft sends the ashes on their way aboard a balloon, and records their release using GoPro cameras. The resulting video is shared with the people who paid for the funeral.

Those who have $7,500 (€5,900) to spare can opt for the slightly cooler package, which means that they will be granted permission to travel to Colorado, Indiana or New Mexico, where the company's launch sites are located, and watch the ashes leaving Earth with their own eyes.

For the time being, just two customers have purchased a stratospheric funeral offered by this Kentucky-based company. However, Chris Windfield is convinced that it is only a matter of time until more people buy one of their packages.