Lunar Codex: 30,000 artworks headed to the Moon

Canadian physicist, poet, and science fiction author Samuel Peralta has launched the Lunar Codex project, sending approximately 30,000 artworks to the Moon. The works include literature, music, theater, TV spots, and podcasts, stored on NanoFiche—nickel wafers the size of a quarter—designed to withstand extreme temperatures and electromagnetic radiation. The payloads will travel via NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) on three landers scheduled for launch between November 2023 and November 2024. Peralta describes it as "the largest and most global project to launch cultural works into space," a "message in a bottle for the future." This follows earlier lunar art: the 1969 Moon Museum, a 1.9×1.3 cm ceramic tile with drawings by Robert Rauschenberg, David Novros, John Chamberlain, Claes Oldenburg, Andy Warhol, and Forrest Myers; and Paul Van Hoeydonck's 1971 Fallen Astronaut, an 8.5 cm aluminum sculpture left by Apollo 15 astronaut David Scott on August 2, 1971, commemorating astronauts who died in space travel.