Japan space firm aims to preserve world’s languages by planting disc on moon

Name: Japanese company ispace loses contact with moon lander after suspected crash
Uploaded: 2024-05-27T08:30:09.000Z
Duration: 1 min 38 s
Description: Japanese company ispace loses contact with moon lander after suspected crash

The disc, made of nano-engraved nickel plate, will contain 275 versions of Unesco’s constitution alongside other cultural ‘treasures’

The UN’s cultural agency came up with the idea to preserve the planet’s languages out of concern that a catastrophe could cause them to disappear

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The moon is seen rising behind the Temple of Poseidon in Greece. Japan’s ispace Inc. aims to plant Unesco’s disc on the moon later this year. Photo: Xinhua

Julian Ryall

Published: 4:30pm, 27 May 2024

A disc containing a message in 275 languages is set to be deposited on the moon later this year by a Japanese spacecraft, to act as a repository of humanity’s linguistic diversity should a catastrophe befall Earth.

Paris-based UN cultural agency Unesco announced the project with Japan’s ispace Inc. – a private lunar robotic exploration company that is scheduled to launch its Hakuto-R Mission 2 this winter – earlier this month.

“Language serves as the connective tissue of humanity, facilitating interaction, collaboration and shaping our perceptions of the world,” Unesco said in a statement on its website. “Its preservation in all its diversity is essential to safeguarding human identity.”

The disc, made of nano-engraved nickel plate, will contain 275 versions of the 362-word preamble to Unesco’s constitution, which calls for the “wide diffusion of cultures”, and “the education of humanity for justice and liberty and peace”.

“Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed,” begins the preamble, which was agreed upon in the immediate aftermath of World War II.

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Japanese company ispace loses contact with moon lander after suspected crash

The disc will also contain a selection of cultural “treasures”, Unesco said, including Le Petit Prince by French author Antoine de Saint-Exupery – one of the world’s most translated books. It will also hold images of 100 paintings from diverse cultural backgrounds and historical eras.