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.

4 Responses to “Wikipedia: offsite backups”

  1. Curious Says:

    for $8k you can put up your own satellite into space: http://www.interorbital.com/TubeSat_1.htm

  2. sheer_panic Says:

    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.

  3. ClintJCL Says:

    In reality tho, backups don’t require a computer running at all.

  4. sheer_panic Says:

    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.

Leave a Reply