What if humanity disappears from Earth suddenly? The diverse languages and cultural legacies we’ve developed will likely vanish with us. However, there’s a possibility of preserving these linguistic treasures beyond our planet.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is partnering with a Japanese lunar exploration company to explore this preservation possibility.
Languages Beyond Earth: A Cosmic Archive Initiative
According to space.com, the Japanese company Ispace is collaborating with UNESCO to establish a human presence in space, specifically on the moon. Their joint project aims to transport an array of 275 languages and various cultural artifacts to the lunar surface.
This ambitious initiative involves the use of a ‘Memory Disk’, a modern equivalent of a time capsule, which will be transported to the moon aboard Ispace’s upcoming Hakuto-R Mission 2.
Hakuto-R Mission 2: A Lunar Time Capsule
The upcoming Hakuto-R Mission 2 will send a robotic lander to the moon’s surface. It will also deliver to Earth’s natural satellite a memory disk that seeks to keep humanity alive in case something threatens humanity’s existence on our planet.
“UNESCO is committed to preserving the linguistic diversity that represents human cultures from any crisis that threatens their destruction in the future, and preservation on the lunar surface is one means to preserve cultures,” says ispace in a release posted on its website.