Engineers enlist NASA to send another time capsule to the moon – 24 sapphire disks will contain ‘the essence of humanity’ printed in 170 billion pixels, but who will read them?
NASA, in collaboration with a team of international scientists, researchers, designers and artists led by French engineer Benoit Faiveley, plans to send another time capsule to the moon.
The project, titled “Sanctuary on the Moon”, is part of NASA’s ambitious Artemis CLPS program and has the support of UNESCO and the patronage of French President Emmanuel Macron.
Sanctuary on the Moon wants to engrave 24 sapphire discs with “the essence of humanity”. The discs, currently being engraved by the French Commission for Alternative Energy and Atomic Energy (CEA), will contain a diverse portrait of our species in micropixels – up to 7 billion per disc.
An inspiration for future generations
This will be the first time that the collective human ‘recipe’ in the form of male and female genomes has been brought to another world, and the project aims to pass on an understandable message to future generations of humans – and other intelligent life forms that possible accidental stop – by using universal symbols of our knowledge and culture. The plan is to tell the story of “who we are, what we know and what we do” and the discs will include examples of mathematics, culture, paleontology, art and science, along with the human genome.
The moon, with its ancient surface impervious to natural disasters, is seen as the ideal location for this archival time capsule, which will be housed in a container designed to withstand the harsh lunar conditions for many years and conforms to all space certifications required by NASA. .
Joel Kearns, Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, expressed his enthusiasm for the project. “We are excited to bring Sanctuary to the moon,” he said. “We believe this internationally curated repository of lunar knowledge will serve as a source of inspiration today and for many generations to come.”
The multidisciplinary Sanctuary team consists of 11 renowned scientists, engineers, astrophysicists, paleontologists, cosmologists and artists. The project has also received support from organizations such as CNES, CEA, INRIA, BCGSC and UNESCO.
Read more about the Sanctuary on the Moon project here.