Ben Haldeman is backing up our collective memories across the stars

Published [3/31/26]

Ben Haldeman is an engineer, explorer, and the visionary founder of LifeShip — designing pyramids filled with DNA archives and cultural time capsules to send to the Moon and beyond. A former early employee at Planet Labs, Ben left to follow a calling that crystallized during a vision quest through the forests of Lake Atitlan, Guatemala.

In this conversation, Arash and Ben look past technical specifications to explore the existential heart of why we document ourselves as a species. If the Burn is an exercise in the ephemeral, building a temporary city only to let it go, Ben's work represents the ultimate counterbalance: a community-driven effort to ensure the human story survives among the stars. From his hippie parents' Volkswagen van in Nova Scotia to landing a pyramid on the Moon in March 2025, this is an audio memoir of a man following the signs through ayahuasca ceremonies, dusty sunrises at Robot Heart, and asteroid missions - dedicated to preserving the seeds of Earth and spreading life into the cosmos.

Episode Info

Burner Podcast | Episode B161
Recorded at Emerald Village on 3/19/26
Featuring: Ben Haldeman
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benhaldeman
Black Velveteen – DJ whose session was recorded live on the AirPusher art car at Burning Man 2025: https://linktr.ee/blackvelveteen
Full set: https://soundcloud.com/blackvelveteennow/burning-man-2025-airpusher-on-the-playa
AirPusher Collective – The art car and community behind Black Velveteen's set: https://www.instagram.com/airpushercollective/

Connect & Learn More

LifeShip – Organization sending biological and digital archives to space: https://lifeship.com
Planet Labs – Earth-imaging satellite company where Ben designed the initial camera systems: https://www.planet.com
Firefly Aerospace – Built the Moon lander for the Life Ship mission: https://fireflyspace.com
AstroForge – Asteroid mining company focused on reducing destructive mining on Earth: https://www.astroforge.io
AstroLab – LA-based company building the Moon rover "Flip": https://astrolab.space

Places & Events

Burning Man – Annual event and the "capital city" of our global community: https://burningman.org
LA Tech Week – The default world collision point where Arash and Ben first met: https://www.tech-week.com/la
Svalbard Global Seed Vault – The "Doomsday" seed bank referenced in Ben's work: https://www.croptrust.org/work/svalbard-global-seed-vault/

Key Topics & Concepts

LifeShip Moon Pyramid – The cultural time capsule and DNA archive that landed on the Moon: https://lifeship.com/pages/mission-updates
Asteroid Mining – The process of utilizing space resources to protect Earth's environment: https://www.astroforge.io/mission
Egypt Solar Eclipse 2027 – Total solar eclipse event near Luxor: https://www.eclipse2027.org

🌟 Standard Boilerplate

About the Show Burner Podcast is an independent gift to the community, not a PR wing for the Org. We are an artist-documentarian project dedicated to capturing the stories and heart-centered truth of our global population. Reality is a conversation, and the conversation must continue.

The project serves the community through three distinct channels:

Burner Podcast: The original traditional interview show featuring audio memoirs and deep-dive conversations.
Alkaline: The DJ mix show and sonic documentation of the global Burner community—the soundtrack to your Burn.
The Dispatch: A space for remote check-ins, time-sensitive updates, and direct addresses to the international burnersphere.
Opening theme by Joman https://jomanmusic.com
Closing sets: https://soundcloud.com/burnerpodcast/sets/burner-podcast-closing-sets

About the Host Arash Afshar (aka Miraḡe the Pluronaut) is an Iranian-American, SoCal-based artist and oral historian. He champions Artist Consciousness and views his mission as facilitating radical humanization through the medium of recorded conversations, written words, and photography. 🔗 Explore projects: http://arashafshar.com 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrarash

Support the Gift This show is a decommodified project. We grow only through your word-of-mouth—if this story resonates with you, please share it with a friend. You can also support the continuation of this conversation on Patreon. 🔗 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/mrarash