X-Message-Number: 16563
From: "John de Rivaz" <>
Subject: DNA and photos boldy goes into space
Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2001 17:02:55 +0100

The following appeared on Infobeat.

My comment is, that if Arthur C Clarke has applied for that, then why not
cryopreservation?

>>>>>>>>
http://www.infobeat.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/IBFrontEnd.woa/wa/fullStory?artic
le=408335140

InfoBeat - Co. hopes to put messages in space
By JUAN A. LOZANO
Associated Press Writer

    HOUSTON (AP) - California businessman Dennis Tito paid up to $20
million for an eight-day trip to space. Now, a Houston-based
company can send you _ well, part of you anyway _ for $50.
    Encounter 2001 is working to build an unmanned spacecraft, fill
it with DNA samples and messages from up to 4.5 million people,
then blast it beyond the solar system. The company hopes to launch
its spacecraft in late 2003.
    ``This is a chance for people to participate in a real space
mission,'' said Charles Chafer, Encounter 2001 president. ``Maybe
one day it will be found.''
    For $50, people can have their digitized photos and messages as
well as hair samples placed on the spacecraft.
    Encounter 2001 is the sister company of Celestis Inc., which in
April 1997 began using commercial rockets to launch the cremated
remains of people into space.
    Encounter's spacecraft will be made up of a solar sail the size
of a football field and a small container carrying the photos and
messages, plus dehydrated hair samples with the DNA codes of 4.5
million people.
    The solar sail _ the spacecraft's power source _ is a very thin
sheet of reflective material that will use the sun's photons to
propel it forward, Chafer said. The concept is similar to a
sailboat being pushed along the water by the force of the wind.
    Like wind, sunlight exerts pressure and a large enough sail in
space could harness this force and travel without using fuel.
Although a solar sail is at first slower than a conventional
rocket, it continues to accelerate over time and achieves a greater
velocity.
    NASA and several private groups are working on plans to use
solar sail technology.
    The spacecraft, to be launched on an Ariane 5 rocket, will orbit
Earth for three weeks so ground controllers can conduct system
checks.
    After the spacecraft leaves Earth orbit, it will deploy its
solar sail and begin its journey.
    It will take about 15 years for the spacecraft to fly past
Pluto, the solar system's outermost planet. When the sailcraft
leaves the solar system, it will be traveling at 7.8 miles per
second. That compares with the space shuttle's on-orbit speed of 5
miles per second.
    The spacecraft's imaging component is scheduled to be tested
during space shuttle Endeavour's mission in late November.
    The mission is expected to cost about $25 million. Most of that
is being paid by private investors. Some of the money, though, is
coming from public participation in the project.
    About 67,000 people so far have paid to take part in the
mission. Chafer said he expects the bulk of sales of participation
kits to occur in the six months before the launch.
    Jim Glock, a teacher at Fairmont Junior High School in suburban
Deer Park, got 140 students in six of his sixth, seventh and eighth
grade classes signed up two years ago.
    ``I wanted them to see how vast the universe is and the time and
distances there are to go from point A to point B,'' Glock said.
    Another purchaser is famed science fiction writer Arthur C.
Clarke, who said he was delighted to be taking part, in some way,
in technology he wrote about. His 1963 short story ``The Wind from
the Sun'' envisioned space travel by using solar sails.
    ``Fare well my clone!'' Clarke wrote on his message, referring
to his DNA on board.
    ``One day, some super civilization may encounter this relic from
the vanished species and I may exist in another time,'' Clarke told
The Associated Press in an interview late last year.
    The work of Encounter and Celestis is a natural progression of
the exploration of space, Chafer said.
    ``Governments open the frontiers but without strong commercial
components, frontiers don't go anywhere,'' he said. ``It's sort of
a natural evolution, combining real missions with the mass
market.''

    On the Net:
    Team Encounter: http://www.teamencounter.com

<<<<<<<<

--
Sincerely, John de Rivaz:      http://www.deRivaz.com
my homepage links to Longevity Report, Fractal Report, music, Inventors'
report, an autobio and various other projects:
http://www.geocities.com/longevityrpt
http://www.autopsychoice.com - http://www.cryonics-europe.org -
http://www.porthtowan.com

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=16563