The special data device SpaceX's Falcon Heavy sent to orbit

[Mr. Man-wai Chang]

The special data device SpaceX's Falcon Heavy sent to orbit is just the
start
Full story:
<https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/09/the-special-data-device-spacexs-falcon-heavy-sent-to-orbit-is-just-the-start/>

On board the Tesla Roadster that Elon Musk sent hurtling towards the
sun, aiming for a long, leisurely Earth-Mars orbit, there were a few
pieces of miscellaneous cargo.

A so-called 'Starman,' which is a life-size mannequin wearing a
production version of the SpaceX crew spacesuit; a miniature car created
by Hot Wheels to commemorate the Roadster and its primary passenger; and
something called an Arch (pronounced "Ark"), which is not so easy to
summarily describe.

The Arch on board is a data crystal (sort of like a Jedi Holocron if
you're mad for Star Wars lore) that contains all three books from Isaac
Asimov's classic Foundation trilogy. It's actually a modest amount of
data relative to the possibilities of the storage medium – in this case,
a quartz silica structure which, using *5D optical storage techniques*,
can eventually achieve a max storage capacity of 360 terabytes on a disk
just 3.75 inches in diameter.

But why shoot a tiny quartz disc into space? Why Foundation, and why
aboard the Falcon Heavy, the crowning achievement of Elon Musk's SpaceX
private launch venture thus far?

First, while the disc itself and the technology behind it (developed by
University of Southampton’s Dr. Peter Kazansky and his research team) is
incredibly interesting (it's expected *to last for over 14 billion
years*, even accounting for outer space dangers including cosmic
radiation) – it's not the definition of what an Arch actually is. That,
according to Arch Mission co-founder Nova Spivack, is actually something
much more ambitious, broad in scope and technology agnostic.

The Arch Mission was actually inspired by Asimov\'s Foundation series
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