Interstellar Humanity is a one-of-a-kind project: the team will send preserved human DNA out of the Solar System to enable humankind to colonize exoplanets. Challenging conventional understanding of death and separation with loved ones, the mission gives DNA travelers an opportunity to take part in a collective, indefinite journey across the Universe, to reach new worlds and new beginnings. 

Opening a New Era of Exploration

"At the end of the 13th Century, Marco Polo allowed Europeans to discover the Eastern world. About a century later, Christopher Columbus led the way for European exploration and colonization of the Americas. Now, we should open the path towards deep space colonization, at a large scale," explains Gaël Bonnel-Sanchez, the French entrepreneur who founded the project.

Where will this path ultimately lead? The project intends to help humanity reach potentially endless opportunities to improve the quality of life as we know it. "The conquest of new territories in Deep Space implies that human beings will have to establish themselves in new environments. These will be both challenging and supportive to a degree that we cannot imagine today. Humanity will be given the chance to find new food sources, develop new cures for diseases, and create new, useful technologies," explains Dr. Liliana Bakayoko, COO of Interstellar Humanity's Organizational and Legal Development Department. 

"In Deep Space, human DNA may also encounter other preexisting extraterrestrial intelligent life, leading to the emergence of new forms of symbiosis or newly configured varieties of common existence," underlines Gaël.

A Vision Backed up by Science

Interstellar Humanity started as a visionary dream. However, it quickly turned out to be a viable scientific project, with the theory behind it considered feasible by renowned NASA and Harvard scientists for quite some time.

DNA is considered the 'blueprint of life' - it contains all the genetic information a cell needs to build and maintain a functioning organism. It's also surprisingly resilient: under ideal conditions,  DNA can remain viable approximately 6.8 million years. That's a lot of time to explore the universe in search of a suitable planet. 

Though the idea of coming across an environment that could support the rebuilding of human life may seem far-fetched, it's actually much more likely that we might assume. Based on Nasa's Kepler space mission data, scientists believe that in the Milky Way alone there could be as many as 40 billion Earth-sized planets orbiting in the habitable zones of Sun-like stars and red dwarfs. 

A Journey to Eternity

Contrary to certain preconceived ideas, the Interstellar Humanity team believes that current generations should not wait until humankind masters faster-than-light speeds to explore the wider reaches of the universe. As Gaël puts it, "When it comes to space colonization, neither the adults nor the children of today should be viewed as lost generations". 

Satellite missions have already proven that current technology can allow us to go beyond our Solar System. The Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft, for instance, which took flight in 1977, will continue to operate for another 25 to 30 years, sending back data from deep space. If the technology of the 1970s allowed for such a feat to be achieved, imagine what we can do with current solutions! 

Thanks to deep space radio transmissions, Interstellar Humanity's DNA travelers - people on earth whose DNA is onboard the probe - will also be able to locate the position of their DNA during their lifetime. The voyage may even become a family adventure that flows on through the generations. 

The launch of the first Interstellar Humanity mission is scheduled for 2025. Pre-reservations for the 10,000 participants that will have the opportunity to store their DNA on board are already open.