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Project idea to inspire celestial thinking, creative writing, and future hopes.
by Jim McDermott

I stumbled upon the KEO project the other day and realized what an amazing opportunity for a classroom writing project.  The KEO project is a space time capsule set to launch in 2010 with a destination 50,000 years in the future when it's set to re-enter earth's atmosphere.  It will carry a diamond encased with samples of blood, air, and water as well as letters from earth's inhabitants. Everyone is invited to write as message to the future inhabitants of earth by visiting their website and entering your message in the webform.  What would you like to pass on to your faraway descendants? 

Your classroom project can be research about the KEO project and it's founder, Jean-Marc Phillipe and a writing assignment to be included in the time capsule.  The website has some good framing question:

What reflections, what revelations
do your future great grandchildren evoke in you?
What would you wish to tell them about your life, your expectations, your doubts, your desires, your values, your emotions, your dreams?

Here are some thought provoking questions to get your students thinking:

• The time capsule is considered a work of space art by it's creator, Jean-Marc Phillipe.  Take a look at the space art left on the moon called Fallen Astronaut.  What message do you think space artists are trying to communicate?  If you could create your own space artwork, what would it be and what would you want future observers to think of when they saw it?

• The messages included in the KEO time capsule are going to be included in their original, uncensored form.  Do you think that's a good idea?  What are the dangers of censoring the messages?  of putting uncensored messages in space?

• Create a presentation of a time capsule created in the past -- opened or not.  Include the following: when it is to be opened (or when it was opened), who was the archivist, what was the container made of, where was it stored, what kind of items are stored in it, what was the "sealing ceremony" like?

Link to the KEO website where you can enter your message to be included in the time capsule:  http://keo.org/uk/pages/message.php

Link to the Wikipedia on the KEO time capsule: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KEO

Link to the Wikipedia article on time capsules for the third project idea:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_capsule