For 99 Cents, Your Own Space in a Mars Time Capsule

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What’s the Latest?

For just 99 cents, you can contribute images, text, audio, or video clips to be included in a Mars-bound spacecraft that will await the arrival of future astronauts, greeting them with your message once they’ve landed. The idea of combining crowdfunding with space-age technology–officially called the Time Capsule to Mars–arose after an engineer and space enthusiast attended the Humans to Mars Summit in Washington, D.C. The mission will utilize optical quartz technology which allows terabytes of data to be stored securely for millions of years. This is your chance to become part of space history while contributing to future manned expeditions.

What’s the Big Idea?

Major aerospace organizations have already signed onto the project, including NASA, Lockheed Martin, Stanford, Duke, UConn, MIT, and two former NASA chief astronauts. The mission will test new technologies with the purpose of eventually carrying humans to Mars. “Partnered with MIT’s Space Propulsion Lab, the group will test the newest space engine technology–ion electrospray propulsion–which could reduce travel time to Mars to as little as four months. It will also test out other designs, including ‘delay tolerant networking’ systems that will help the capsule transmit data from deep space…”. To get off the ground, the project will need to raise $25 million.