Phoenix landing: Part of the day III
Humans, with their instinct to memorialize, have always been stashing artefacts into time capsules, whether those vessels be mausolea or rocket ships.
The latest instance of this is “Visions of Mars,” a mini-DVD that the Planetary Society stuck to the edge of Phoenix's instrument bed. Dubbed the “first library on Mars,” the disc contains a collection of art, literature and audio tracks, along with a list of hundreds of thousands of names of enthusiasts. "We hope astronauts will one day retrieve this first Martian library and enjoy the visionary works and good wishes sent from our time to theirs," said society director Louis Friedman in a statement.
It is the society's second attempt to get the collection to Mars – an earlier version was on board Russia's Mars '96 spacecraft, which failed just after launch.
The DVD contains short stories from authors such as Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, audio clips from Carl Sagan, and artwork such as the promo poster to this 1936 Flash Gordon flick.
You can see who signed up to put their name on board here. I found a George W. Bush and a Barack Obama, but no Hillary Clinton or John McCain. Maybe Obama is more of a Mars fan after all.
Image: Universal Pictures
