Nasa is planning to send DNA offamed British science fiction writer Sir Arthur C Clarke into space — five years after his death.
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The author of the novel ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ died in 2008 in Sri Lanka, and now NASA scientists have announced plans to send his DNA into orbit around the Sun in 2014 aboard the Sunjammer, a solar-powered spacecraft which gets its name from the writings of Clarke.
Called the Sunjammer Cosmic Archive (SCA), the flying time capsule is a first in the history of space travel, carrying digital files of human DNA including Clarke’s aboard the sun-powered space ship, FoxNews.com reported.
The DNA is to be contained in a ‘BioFile’. Other so-called MindFiles, including images, music, voice recordings, and the like, provided by people all around the globe, will also be included in the cosmic archive for future generations — or perhaps other civilisations — to see.
“Clarke certainly imagined himself going to space someday, and that day is finally arriving,” said Stephen Eisele, vice president of Space Services, Inc, a Nasa contractor on the project.
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