In 1977 Voyager 1 carried the Golden Record into deep space as a time capsule from Earth.
It contained greetings in 55 languages, whale song, laughter, music and instructions on how to play the record for any extraterrestrial civilisation that might find it.
HUMANS Deep Space Message is a project developed by MIT researchers led by Dr Maya Nasr and presented by Powerhouse, Sydney. Inspired by the Golden Record, the HUMANS project has previously launched messages up to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2023 and recently travelled the surface of the Moon for MIT Space Exploration Initiative ‘To the Moon to Stay’ program with Lunar Outpost and Intuitive Machines in 2025.
Now it’s your turn, a new iteration of the HUMANS project presented by Powerhouse. On 5 September 2027, the 50th anniversary of the Golden Record launch, a new HUMANS record will be broadcast to deep space. Thousands of people around the world, in many languages and dialects will answer the question: What would you like the universe to remember about our story on Earth?
Dr Maya Nasr
Dr Maya Nasr is the project lead and co-founder of the HUMANS project and a science engineer with Harvard University and the Environmental Defence Fund. Her space credentials include contributions to the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover mission, Cassini’s exploration of Saturn’s moon Titan and the OneWeb satellite network. Dr Nasr is a leader in spacecraft operations, engineering systems, technology strategy, and space law and policy.
Powerhouse, Sydney
Powerhouse is the largest museum group in Australia. It sits at the intersection of the arts, design, science and technology and plays a critical role in engaging communities with contemporary ideas and issues. It is custodian to more than half a million objects of national and international significance and is considered one of the finest and most diverse collections in Australia.
MIT
HUMANS Deep Space Message is in collaboration with Dr. Jorg Scholvin and Dr. Annie Wang at MIT.nano on wafer CAD design, fabrication, nano-etching, and testing. The project is further supported by Professor Craig Carter at the MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering for wafer computational design and implementation, Somayajulu Dhulipala at the MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering for wafer casing, and Prof. Dava Newman at the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics for advisory support.
HUMANS Deep Space Message list of countries is provided by the International Organisation for Standardisation and languages are the six official languages of the UN.