Seeds
Earlier this year, the Arrows of the Yom Kippur Clock, whose movement reflects the level of danger of nuclear war and other threats, Seconds ahead. Explaining their decision, the representatives of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists made the following statement: “The probability of a worldwide catastrophe is extremely high, therefore, measures that will ensure a reduction in risks must be taken in the near future. The heads of state must act now to save humanity from falling into the abyss. If they do nothing, citizens must take action. ”
Some citizens already take these measures, only in this case we are not talking about actions directed against nuclear war, but about measures taken to preserve especially important values for those who survive in a possible cataclysm. We are now talking about the “Vault of the Judgment Day” (Svalbard Globale frøhvelv), which is located on the island of Spitsbergen. Samples of the seeds of the main crops are stored for safe storage. And now the team of this project is going to store in this place and the most important for the person data.
There are already more than 1.5 million seeds in the repository, and millions and billions of bytes of information will soon appear. The archiving and transportation of data to Spitsbergen is carried out by a small Norwegian company Piql. Its representatives suggested using not ordinary storage media like laser discs, but a special film that can remain unchanged for hundreds of years. The film wound on reels will not be stored in an open form, but in special boxes, in turn, protected from external factors.
This carrier will be preserved for so long Features of the repository. It is located at 120-meter depth at an altitude of 130 meters above sea level in the village of Longyearbyen. The entrance is equipped with explosion-proof doors and sluice chambers. The safety of materials is ensured by refrigeration units that can operate at local coal, plus permafrost. Refrigeration units maintain a temperature of -18 degrees Celsius. If they even fail, the temperature will rise only a few degrees.
As for the information carrier, the film, in this repository it will be protected from the effects of nuclear attack due to the large depth of storage. By the way, about 42 countries signed an agreement on the establishment of a demilitarized zone in this region, so there is no nuclear and other weapons on the island. In addition, the entire archive is not connected to anything, you can only get to the tapes physically.
Information on the media developed by Piql can only be recorded once. After that, they can only be read without the possibility of change. Thus, according to the developers, the data is reliably protected against possible attempts to erase information or something to overwrite.
Three countries have already started sending information that representatives of these states consider important, in the repository. This is Norway, Mexico and Brazil. Among other data, the state translates the most important documents from national archives. “By doing this now, we provide the opportunity to access this information for future generations,” said Ricardo Marquez, head of the National Archives of Brazil.
The representative of the National Archives of Mexico agrees with him: “I am sure that we must preserve the memory of our country on the Arctic island.”
The data are saved not only In the event of a global cataclysm. The fact is that in an individual country or region, there are always possible events that can lead to the damage or destruction of the most important archival documents. Local conflicts, floods, earthquakes – this is only part of external factors that pose a danger to critical information that represents the national interest of individual countries.
The company Piql was founded in 2002. Initially, it provided devices for viewing digital movies in cinemas with analog equipment. After that, using own means, support of the EU and the Norwegian organization Innovation Way, the company engaged in research in the field of digital data storage. Representatives of the company believe that a special film can be a more reliable storage medium than hard drives or anything else. The film passed the test simulating conditions of 500-year wear with the use of high temperatures.
The developers are sure that the film is able to keep the data recorded on it unchanged for a longer period – up to 1000 years. In the near future, additional tests will be conducted to test this assumption.
