The French village of Nuit-Saint-Georges, nestled in the heart of Burgundy with a population of just over 5,000, may seem small in the grand scheme of the world, but its connection to the moon is undeniably significant. Known primarily for its rich winemaking heritage, Nuit-Saint-Georges is also the birthplace of one of the most influential astronomers of the 19th century, Félix Tisserand. Tisserand’s contributions to astronomy were immense, and his name was honored with the Tisserand crater, which sits in the Sea of Serenity, a vast lunar plain visible from Earth.
Tisserand, who was a contemporary of the famous French novelist Jules Verne, is often associated with space travel due to the groundbreaking works of Verne. In his novel From the Earth to the Moon, Verne imagined a journey to the moon, and interestingly, he included a symbolic celebration upon arrival with a bottle of wine from Nuit-Saint-Georges. This link between the village and the moon would continue to evolve in the following century.
In 1971, when the Apollo 15 astronauts passed through the village, they were presented with a special wine, Cuvee Terre Lune (Lunar Earth Vintage). This gift inspired them to name a crater after the village, cementing the connection between Nuit-Saint-Georges and the moon. The town’s square in front of the city hall is now named Place du Cratere Saint-Georges (Saint George Crater Plaza), a lasting tribute to the village’s lunar legacy.
Fast forward to the present, and Nuit-Saint-Georges has become the focal point of a new, ambitious project that seeks to deepen humanity’s connection to the moon. Sanctuary on the Moon, a project spearheaded by Benoit Faiveley, a native of the village, aims to create a time capsule on the moon that will serve as a lasting record of humanity’s civilization, to be discovered by future generations, potentially millions of years from now.
This international project, which is being backed by organizations such as NASA, UNESCO, and the French government, is slated to launch in the coming years. Sanctuary on the Moon takes inspiration from a similar effort launched nearly 50 years ago—the Golden Records attached to the Voyager spacecraft. The Golden Records, which were sent into space aboard the Voyager probes in 1977, were designed to provide extraterrestrial civilizations with a snapshot of life on Earth. These records contain a diverse selection of images and sounds intended to represent the breadth of human experience, from music by Bach and Beethoven to recordings of whale songs and human brain waves.
However, while the Golden Records were intended for an extraterrestrial audience, Faiveley’s Sanctuary on the Moon is designed to preserve a message for humanity’s descendants here on Earth. The idea is to create a time capsule that will be preserved in the vacuum of space, on the surface of the moon, offering a glimpse into our civilization for those who may one day rediscover it.
Faiveley was inspired by Carl Sagan’s Murmurs of Earth, a book detailing the creation of the Golden Records. Faiveley wondered: If we were to leave behind a message for future generations, what would it say? The answer, he decided, would be to include as much information as possible about our current civilization, encapsulated in a series of discs that could be read for millennia to come.
The Sanctuary on the Moon time capsule will contain 24 discs, each only 10 centimeters in diameter. Despite their small size, these discs will hold an incredible amount of information, with each one containing up to seven billion pixels of data. The information will cover a range of topics, including Matter and Atoms, Life and Biology, Space and the Universe, and detailed maps of the male and female genomes.
The discs themselves will be made of sapphire, one of the hardest minerals on Earth, second only to diamond. The pixel arrangements will allow the information to be readable under magnification, while also creating visually appealing images that can be seen with the naked eye. For example, one of the discs dedicated to space will display an image of a space-suited astronaut, along with the phases of the moon, Earth’s position in the Milky Way, and other significant astronomical phenomena. Under magnification, the disc will provide a comprehensive catalog of our understanding of the universe.
Currently, the project has preliminary designs for 10 of the 24 discs, with the remaining 14 still in development. All discs must be completed by 2027, with the scheduled launch to the moon set for 2028 as part of NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the lunar surface.
The discs will be encased in a protective container made of machined aluminum and delivered to the moon’s surface by an unmanned lander through NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. The exact landing site is yet to be determined, but wherever it lands, the time capsule will remain on the moon, waiting to be discovered by some future civilization—should anyone ever find it.
The idea of creating a time capsule from humanity to the future may seem like a low-tech solution, given the advances in modern technology, but Faiveley argues that this approach is actually the most reliable for long-term preservation. In a world where technological devices like DVDs and CDs may become obsolete, a physical medium that can be read with simple tools—such as a magnifying glass—ensures that the information will remain accessible for centuries, or even millennia.
Each disc will feature a key explaining the International Unit System, which defines units of measurement, along with a Rosetta Stone-style guide to human languages. The guide will include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in multiple languages, including French, English, Arabic, Greek, Chinese, Dhivehi, and Inuktitut. This multilingual key will allow future generations to decode and understand the information contained within the time capsule.
Faiveley explains that the aim of the Sanctuary project is not just to convey knowledge but to offer a message that is both scientific and poetic. The 24 discs will cover three core themes: “What we are,” “What we know,” and “What we make.” These themes will encompass everything from our biological makeup to our scientific achievements and artistic creations.
The project has brought together experts from around the world, including geneticists, astrophysicists, palaeontologists, and particle physicists, who have collaborated in workshops to decide what information should be included in the capsule. The team has also worked closely with UNESCO, which has expressed interest in preserving the world’s cultural heritage by including renderings of all the World Heritage Sites in the final designs.
At the heart of the project is a deep commitment to scientific inquiry. For example, four of the 24 discs will be dedicated to the mapping of the human genome, which has become one of the most significant achievements in modern science. The genome discs will contain detailed instructions on how to decode the human genome, as well as the full genomes of two males and two females selected from a cohort of “super seniors”—people who have reached the age of 85 without major health issues. This represents not just individual genetics but the wider genetics of humanity.
In addition to the genomes, the time capsule will also contain a musical composition created specifically for the project: Moon Above, by the Norwegian band Flunk. This addition of music, Faiveley explains, serves to balance the scientific data with the artistic expression that reflects humanity’s creativity and emotional depth.
The 100 billion pixels contained within the time capsule may seem like an enormous amount of data, but Faiveley points out that it is a small amount when compared to the complexity of human existence. While the Golden Records were intended for extraterrestrial life, Sanctuary on the Moon is designed for our descendants—humanity’s future generations who may one day stumble upon this time capsule and ask the same questions that we ask about the civilizations of the past: “What did they know? What did they believe? What did they create?”
Unlike the Golden Records, which were intended for an alien audience, Sanctuary on the Moon is for humanity itself. Faiveley hopes that the time capsule will be discovered by a future generation that is curious about the past and eager to learn about the people who came before them. In this way, the project serves as both a scientific endeavor and a cultural statement—a message to the future that reflects the fragility of humanity and the urgency of preserving our knowledge and legacy.
The Sanctuary on the Moon project is a powerful reminder that our present moment, with all its triumphs and challenges, will one day be part of history. As Faiveley puts it, this project is about conveying knowledge, but it is also about understanding our own fragility and the preciousness of the human experience. It is a statement about who we are, where we came from, and where we might go.
In a time of global challenges—climate change, political unrest, and the ongoing threat of nuclear conflict—Sanctuary on the Moon also raises important questions about the future of humanity. Faiveley acknowledges that the time capsule may be viewed as a form of “intellectual insurance” in case of civilization’s collapse, but he insists that it is not meant as a survivalist endeavor. Rather, it is a statement of hope—a belief that the knowledge and culture of our time will one day be rediscovered by those who seek to understand the past and learn from it.
Ultimately, Sanctuary on the Moon is a gift to future generations—a treasure that will inspire curiosity and reflection. Just as the ancient Egyptians left behind their hieroglyphs to tell future generations about their civilization, so too will we leave behind this time capsule, a record of humanity’s achievements, struggles, and dreams for a future we can only imagine.
