A letter from Austin’s mayor, the Kerbey Lane Cafe queso and recipe, and an archive of tons of books took off on rocket mission headed to the moon Friday.
The coveted items were on a rover aboard the SpaceX Falcon that launched from Cape Canaveral, Flordia. After circling the moon, the lunar lander will attempt to land in early April.
The letter from Austin Mayor Steve Adler starts with a warm Texas greeting to any extraterrestrials, asking them to consider their friendly city for a visit, with lots of really good incentives.
Including a beloved queso dip and recipe from Austin restaurant Kerbey Lane Cafe. The recipe has never been publicly shared.
“We choose to send queso to the Moon — and maybe someday chips as well, not because these things are easy, but because they are hard,” Mayor Adler wrote.
“The challenge to eat queso in zero gravity is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, among other key challenges, like next time remembering the chips.”
And that’s not all. The mayor says if a space being stops by their city, they can have their own private band for their stay.
They will play for you anytime you want. Have a birthday party? They will be there. Wedding between two intelligent, consenting life forms? There. Ever wish there was someone to play creepy background music while you are planning intergalactic domination? They can do that.
Also in the welcome basket? A lifetime pass for a whole alien family to Texas attraction Barton Springs. “What is Barton Springs?” the Mayor asked. “I’m glad you asked. It’s only the most awesome spring fed pool in the universe. And for you — no entrance fee. Ever.”
Finally, the mayor offered a canine friend so extraterrestrials can truly feel at home in Austin. “Pick any dog in town. It’s yours.”
The gift from Austin is set to stay on the moon indefinitely, along with 25,000 books and resources, including the Long Now Foundation Rosetta and PanLex dataset — linguistic keys to 5,000 languages, with 1.5 billion cross-language translations—all laser etched in microscopic analog form on a radiation-proof nickel Nanofiche disk, according to a press release about the event.
It’s all a part of the Arch Mission Foundation’s goal to archive human knowledge and earth biology in a project they call The Billion Year Archive. The nonprofit calls this a solar system-wide project and the Arch Libraries are considered the most durable way to keep human records safe.
“It is my hope that on the future day that you read this, we will have solved the many things on this earth for which we are less proud,” Mayor Adler continues in his note.
“Presently, the world has not sufficiently responded to the dire threat of climate change and environmental injustice. And our society has let people become downtrodden, failing to recognize that each human being, regardless of the immutable characteristics of their birth or their station in life, is alive with the same fire that lights the stars at night.”
“Perhaps a future time capsule will send happy news of our solutions to the vexing problems that threaten what is great in our city and our world. We in Austin do not just hope for a better and more just tomorrow, but are taking the difficult steps in the present, so we will survive our time and we may live into yours. May this message represent our continuing hope and determination, and our good will in a vast and awesome universe.”
A touching and cheesy gift to the universe.
Disclaimer: Nova Spivack, a co-founder of the Arch Mission Foundation, is on the Daily Dot’s board of directors and is an investor in the company.
H/T Austin Chronicle