HUMANS
When The Golden Record was sent out on Voyager to portray Earth for extraterrestrials in 1977, it told a story of the diversity of lives and cultures on our home planet. Today, after a pandemic that hit all of us around the globe, ongoing conflicts and wars all around our planet, humanity needs unity more than ever. We wish to send a new "Record of Our Voices" to space. This time, the story is not for extraterrestrials, but for ourselves.
Humanity United with MIT Art and Nanotechnology in Space (HUMANS) is an MIT project that combines art and nanotechnology for increasing global representation in Space. HUMANS has created a record of voices from people all around the world in their native languages, sharing their thoughts on the meaning of space for themselves and humanity. Inspired by The Golden Record, a six-inch silicon wafer has been etched using cutting-edge MIT nanotechnology and was launched up to the ISS on Ax-2. Separately, a smaller 2" version will travel the surface of the Moon with the MIT Space Exploration Initiative’s “To The Moon To Stay” program with Lunar Outpost and Intuitive Machines. HUMANS creates a symbolic avenue for Space access worldwide and emphasizes how Space should remain a “space" for everyone. For more information, visit humans.mit.edu.