In honor of the University of Michigan's upcoming bicentennial celebrations, the University is planning to send a time capsule spaceship into orbit around Earth — the first time capsule of its kind, according to the Michigan Bicentennial Archive project website.

Engineering graduate student Kevin Tebbe, leader of the M-BARC program, wrote in an email interview that he thinks the program is an opportunity to showcase the achievements of the University’s 200-year history. The capsule, which is student-designed and launched, will be retrieved from space in 100 years by a team of students.

“The purpose of this time capsule is to celebrate the University of Michigan, its accomplishments and its contributions to society,” Tebbe wrote. “We want to showcase the technological capabilities of this university and push future students to increase our space capabilities by devising a way to retrieve this time capsule through a similar student team/project that we are using to launch it.”

Tebbe, who is also leading a team charged with the satellite's altitude and power control, replaced Climate and Space Prof. Thomas Zurbuchen as the program leader following his departure last month to accept a role as head of the NASA Science Mission Directorate.

The capsule itself, according to M-BARC, will be a total of 3,000 cubic centimeters and will include a roughly equal space for propulsion hardware, payload and communications equipment.

“The time capsule will be a 3U CubeSat which has the dimensions of 30x10x10 cm,” Tebbe wrote. “1/3 of the volume will be taken up by the propulsion device which will enable us to position ourselves in a legal and stable orbit after the initial insertion from the launch vehicle. Another third of the spacecraft will be taken up by the control and communications systems which will allow the satellite to orient itself and confirm its position early in its life. The last third will include the payload and retroreflectors.”

The capsule will contain a record of student and faculty interviews, a sample of DNA that will test the molecule’s long-term durability and a physical artifact from the University.

“The first piece we are including is a silicon data chip created by the Lurie Nanofabrication Facility that will contain the transcriptions and possibly the recordings of approximately 1,000 University of Michigan affiliate,” Tebbe wrote. “We'll be interviewing students, staff, faculty, alumni and those who work at or have worked at the University in any capacity.”

These interviews will be aimed at highlighting the life of the average University affiliate.

“We want to use the interviews to create a snapshot of the University as it exists right now,” he wrote. “The main goal of the interviews is to not cherry pick the best parts so that we can provide the most accurate depiction of day-to-day life at the University.”

Engineering senior Samidha Visai, who works on funds management and public outreach with M-BARC, likened the interviews to a portrait in time at the University.

“We want to interview the faculty working hard in the MoJo cafeteria, we want to interview the Dean of Engineering, we want to interview alumni,” she said. “We want to provide deep and personal interviews of a variety of people's raw experiences living in 2017 and within the (University) ecosystem for those who will read the stories in 100 years.”

The DNA sample that will be included will be slightly altered to reflect school spirit, Tebbe said — it has been encoded to contain the University’s Alma Mater song.

The encoding, according to Visai, is an experiment that will be completed by University researchers in the future.

“(The capsule contains a) DNA radiation experiment such that scientists in 100 years will be able to examine long-term space radiation effects on a human,” Visai said.

The final part of the payload will be a secret from the public until next year when the time capsule is officially unveiled to the public. However, both Visai and Tebbe said it will be an object or piece of artwork from the University.

This project’s purpose, according to Visai, is to honor the University’s bicentennial as well as its history and future in space science.

“We want to see a true celebration of everyone who is a part of our University,” Visai said. “Not just the leadership, not just the athletes, not just stellar students. We want everyone who is a part of our University to feel like this is a celebration of our community, a community that they have impacted. We want this to be exciting and something to remember for everyone involved with Michigan in 2017 and going forward, as well as alumni.”

The spacecraft is slated to be sealed in fall 2017 with an accompanying dedication and unveiling ceremony.

“We are currently working on a NASA proposal that would grant us a free launch for our system,” Tebbe wrote. “We have had luck in the past with launch proposals and won a free ULA launch for a test version of the time capsule that will likely launch in spring/summer of 2017. However, even if we don't receive a free launch for the time capsule, we are working with multiple launch providers who have availabilities in 2018/2019 for our launch.”