There's a plan in motion right now to get human DNA on the surface of the moon. The whole thing, which is dubbed Lunar Mission One, is being headed by a famous rock star, who goes by the name of Brian Cox, and a non-profit entity in the UK.
Their primary goal is to land a probe on the surface of the moon. The probe should be ready to land on the South Pole by the year 2024, and by then the robotic device will be used to drill 20 to 100 meters into the rock for the purpose of analyzing the soil and other contents.
The strangest thing about this whole mission is the need to carry human hair and drop them off on the moon.
Perhaps they hope aliens would one day locate the bag of hair, or maybe the strands would mutate after coming in direct contact with solar radiation. Don't worry -- we're just having a little bit of fun with the idea.
Now, we should point out that this is a Kickstarter-funded project, so folks who pledge enough will get the chance to have strands of their hair sent to the moon. Folks can even get their name inscribed on a digital wall, or upload their favorite pictures, images, videos, or even music into a virtual memory box.
The whole thing is pretty awesome, although we fail to see the sense of it all apart from getting folks to actually donate some cash to the cause.
While the team hasn't said much as to why it makes sense to throw human DNA on the moon, the guys did say that it could last up to a billion years. That's cool to know and all, but what's the scientific purpose? We'll likely be kept in the dark about this for quite some time.
The project right now is going well. The goal is to gain £600,000 or more from Kickstarter, and so far with 26 days to go, the team has gained nearly £300,000.
