Kickstarter can be a great way for people to help out with projects they care about. Make a small donation, and maybe even get a little trinket for your time. But what about the rich eccentric with money to burn? For 10,000 bucks, they too can help out with a project–and in exchange get their DNA on the moon.
Omega Envoy is a Florida team competing in Google’s Lunar X Prize, a race to be the first non-government entity to send a rover to the moon. To raise money for their attempt, they launched a Kickstarter project, and in addition to some relatively mundane items (scale models of the rover, for example), they’ve added the option to bring a $10,000 philanthropist’s DNA on board. They say the “interplanetary backup will ensure the survival of their genetic material independent of conditions here on Earth.”
As of right now they’ve raised about $2,000 out of $200,000, with 17 days to go. That may sound like a lot, but remember, all they need is 20 people really concerned about the safety of their saliva here on Earth.
