The Phoenix mission seems to be shifting focus away from pure science, and back to humanity. It’s like the late great Carl Sagan has touched this mission from the beyond (he’d love that idea!) Not only did we have the amazing photo of Phoenix’s EDL (which provokes in me the same silent awe, feelings of loneliness, and immense pride that I get from the Pale Blue Dot image and the Apollo Earthrise) but there is also the whole “Visions of Mars” project.

Essentially, the Planetary Society made a special one-off DVD out of silica glass, which is designed to last hundreds or even a thousand years. It contains messages from Carl Sagan, Arthur C Clarke and others along with thousands of names submitted to the Planetary society’s website. One day, and I think before too long, that disk will be retrieved and played. You can only guess at who will be reading it, but to mount an expedition to retrieve it, they will most likely be permanent residents.

I think that I missed a trick personally, as I don’t think I entered my name. I remember reading about it and thinking it was a good idea, but did I get round to it? I don’t know.

What worries me more is that I think the Planetary Society missed a trick too, if I had a chance to send a DVD into space where I knew it would be safe for a thousand years, I would try and cram as much human knowledge onto it as I could. I don’t trust this planet to be around long enough for us to keep our own history and knowledge safe (I still worry about the destruction of the Library of Alexandra).