Wikipedia: offsite backups
So, I keep talking about backing up parts of the internet to space – at one point, I just wanted to get a big fusion-fired laser, and blast the contents of Google’s cache towards the nearest star. But, at this point, I’m thinking we should be thinking about putting a spacecraft in a orbit such that it will still be up there tens of thousands of years from now, and backing up the wikipedia to it.
The tricky part is figuring out how to build a spacecraft that will still *work* after tens of thousands of years.. but the clock of the long now people probably have some good ideas on the subject. Anyway, it’s a interesting problem.
November 21st, 2009 at 11:40 am
for $8k you can put up your own satellite into space: http://www.interorbital.com/TubeSat_1.htm
January 10th, 2011 at 12:32 pm
Yes, but making a computer that will run for hundreds of thousands of years.. or even a power source that will.. is a challenge beyond my ken.
January 11th, 2011 at 11:22 pm
In reality tho, backups don’t require a computer running at all.
September 6th, 2011 at 11:33 pm
True. By the way, have you ever looked at a piece of software called unison? It looks like the kind of tool that might be very handy for you.