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Futuristic messages to be stored for 50,000 years. Source-Reuters
Scientists are preparing a satellite capsule that will carry messages to the Earth's inhabitants 50,000 years in the future. More than two-dozen European firms, some with interests in the space industry, have invested at least $50 million into the non-profit KEO program that will launch the message-carrying satellite into an orbit that will return to the earth 500 centuries in the future. UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) has dubbed the endeavor its ìproject for the 21st centuryî.
"It's a gift from the people of today to the people of tomorrow," Jean-Marc Philippe, a scientist-turned-artist and the creator of KEO, told a news conference. "We have enough memory on satellite to store six billion messages. The small, powerful, weak, strong and the rich have four pages (each) to pen down their thoughts."
During the first two days of their 20-day visit to India, the group has met over 1,000 Indian Students. "The response has been overwhelming in India," Gupta added. Thousands of messages have also been posted via its web site, www.keo.org. Respondents include people from 181 countries speaking more than 60 languages, and ranging in age from four to eighty-four. "India has such a rich legacy and diverse culture that I can't imagine KEO being launched into space without carrying India's essence aboard," Sejal Gupta, communications officer for the program, told Reuters.
According to Reuters, Philippe felt reasonably sure that an intelligent human race that could benefit from KEO's immense data would still exist when the satellite returns. He explained, "If we don't do anything stupid we'll continue to exist beyond 50,000 years, which is just one percent of the time span of human existence that began on earth some five million years ago."
By the end of 2003, the 220 pound satellite is expected to be launched from the French Arianne equipped with several shields to protect the orbiting messages from shocks, cosmic debris and meteorites.
Scientists are preparing a satellite capsule that will carry messages to the Earth's inhabitants 50,000 years in the future. More than two-dozen European firms, some with interests in the space industry, have invested at least $50 million into the non-profit KEO program that will launch the message-carrying satellite into an orbit that will return to the earth 500 centuries in the future. UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) has dubbed the endeavor its ìproject for the 21st centuryî.
"It's a gift from the people of today to the people of tomorrow," Jean-Marc Philippe, a scientist-turned-artist and the creator of KEO, told a news conference. "We have enough memory on satellite to store six billion messages. The small, powerful, weak, strong and the rich have four pages (each) to pen down their thoughts."
During the first two days of their 20-day visit to India, the group has met over 1,000 Indian Students. "The response has been overwhelming in India," Gupta added. Thousands of messages have also been posted via its web site, www.keo.org. Respondents include people from 181 countries speaking more than 60 languages, and ranging in age from four to eighty-four. "India has such a rich legacy and diverse culture that I can't imagine KEO being launched into space without carrying India's essence aboard," Sejal Gupta, communications officer for the program, told Reuters.
According to Reuters, Philippe felt reasonably sure that an intelligent human race that could benefit from KEO's immense data would still exist when the satellite returns. He explained, "If we don't do anything stupid we'll continue to exist beyond 50,000 years, which is just one percent of the time span of human existence that began on earth some five million years ago."
By the end of 2003, the 220 pound satellite is expected to be launched from the French Arianne equipped with several shields to protect the orbiting messages from shocks, cosmic debris and meteorites.
