Microsoft’s Project Silica has teamed up with the Golden Record 2.0 project, created by students, teachers, and researchers, to lay the groundwork for documenting humanity’s view of the world in a manner similar to the original Golden Record project led by NASA. Project Silica’s technology involves storing data inside thin platters of fused silica glass using ultrashort laser pulses, enabling each coaster-sized platter to store several terabytes of data for 10,000 years. The data can be read using a microscope and decoded using machine-learning algorithms, making it a potential storage method for future archiving projects.
The original Golden Record project involved preserving imagery and sounds from around the world on golden phonograph records, which were launched into deep space on NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2 probes in 1977. Golden Record 2.0 aims to create a new archival project representing humanity and its diversity, designed to be understood by possible extraterrestrial beings who may encounter it in the future. The team behind Golden Record 2.0, with guidance from artist Jon Lomberg who worked on the original project, is digitizing images, natural sounds, music, and spoken words to be included in the archive, leveraging online tools to solicit multimedia contributions.
Richard Black and his colleagues at Microsoft Research’s Cambridge lab encoded test platters for Golden Record 2.0, creating a glass-based instruction guide to help future beings decipher the data stored within the platters. The involvement of Project Silica in the packaging of the archive could provide a durable and long-lasting storage solution for the data, ensuring its preservation for future generations. The team is following the model set by the original Golden Record project, aiming to create a time capsule of humanity’s essence, values, and diversity as a species for potential extraterrestrial recipients.
Other projects have emerged over the years as successors to the Golden Record project, seeking to communicate with potential extraterrestrial civilizations through archival initiatives. Lomberg led the OneEarth Message project, while the Arch Mission Foundation has partnered with organizations like SpaceX, Astrobotic, and Intuitive Machines to send micro-miniaturized archives into space. The Golden Record 2.0 team, although not yet having secured a ride to space, is exploring options with commercial space ventures like SpaceX and other space agencies to potentially launch their archive for interstellar communication.
Despite the uncertainties regarding whether Golden Record 2.0 will reach extraterrestrial beings, the team believes the effort is valuable in prompting humanity to reflect on its past, present, and future. Encouraging contemplation of the challenges facing humanity on Earth can serve as a meaningful exercise in self-reflection and self-improvement. The project poses philosophical questions about the significance of such initiatives and their potential impact on human society, even if they never reach their intended interstellar audience. It underscores the importance of contemplating humanity’s place in the cosmos and the possibilities for growth and advancement as a species.
