An Israeli startup is sending a library to the moon. SpaceIL included a 30-million page document on its Beresheet lunar lander, archiving all of humanity's achievements.
The lander was launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on February 21st and could reach the Moon by April 11th. The lander and its time capsule will remain on the Moon indefinitely.
According to the Arch Mission Foundation (AMF), the information is stored on 25 DVD-sized nickel disks, which are only 40-microns thick.
When Gizmodo asked why the full list of contents was not being released, the AMF told the news outlet:
"We’re only announcing some of the content in the library right now because of the various partnerships we have. Much more content will be revealed. ... Rather than rely on problematic curations of material, we want to include the full breadth and diversity of recorded human knowledge and culture and a record of the life and civilization of planet earth."
The library may be lost to the cosmos, however. The Beresheet missed an engine maneuver that was scheduled to take place on Monday, while it was out of communications range. The lander is back in communication with its ground team as flight controllers work on next steps.
More discs will be sent to the moon in the coming years.