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This Kickstarter is letting you send a message to space

Do you want to participate in the future of space travel? Obviously...

This Kickstarter is letting you send a message to space
10 August 2016

Do you want to participate in the future of space travel, and send the stars a message in the process? Of course you flipping do, it's why you clicked over here.

Voices of Humanity is offering just that: they plan on creating a teeny, tiny time capsule, measuring just 10cm in diameter and roughly as thick as a human hair, and pack it full of human information. DNA, photographs, messages, Tweets, anything the researchers at the University of California can squeeze onto their 'Humanity Chip'.

They would then send it into orbit, beginning a journey that could change the future of space travel. Seriously. 

The project is led by professor Philip Lubin and engineering physics student Travis Brashears, two guys behind a research paper that got NASA very excited indeed: they were able to move a tiny object with a laser. By proving this possible, it's hoped that future applications of this research could help deflect comets away from Earth, and even power small craft around space, changing the way we attempt to reach distant planets and stars.

"Our long-term goal is to enable the first interstellar missions and to eventually place the Voices of Humanity chips on those missions as emissaries of the Earth. It is a modern-day 'ark' or 'time capsule'," said Brashears. By raising money through people adding their voice to this tiny chip, the research team hopes to fund experiments that could see this chip travel across space via lasers. 

You can join in with the Voices of Humanity project via Kickstarter, with various funding goals allowing you to add everything from a message ($1) to your DNA sequence ($45). To hear the science heads explain it, watch their project video...