A Former NASA Engineer Is Sealing Photos Inside an Arctic Mountain to Last 1,000 Years

SVALBARD, Norway, March 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Eternity.Photos has launched the world's first consumer photo archival service designed to preserve personal photographs for over 1,000 years. Working with specialized archival partners, photos are converted to analog film and stored inside mountain vaults in Svalbard, Norway, next to the Global Seed Vault.

When the Cloud Fails, Film Endures

Cloud storage depends on companies, servers, and file formats that may not last. Hard drives can fail within a decade. Eternity.Photos takes a radically different approach: images are transferred onto photosensitive archival film, independently tested to survive over a millennium, and sealed inside mountain vaults.

"Your photos are proof that you were here. Every snapshot, a first step, a golden hour, a face you never want to forget, deserves to last longer than any hard drive," said founder Pavel Machalek.

Machalek, a former NASA engineer and co-founder of data-deletion company Spartacus, brings a unique perspective to archiving: if you wouldn't trust a hard drive with your life, why trust one with your legacy? His solution eliminates dependencies on software, hardware, and institutions entirely.

How It Works

1. Upload up to 20 photos online.
2. Pay a flat fee per batch. No subscription.
3. Photos are converted to archival-grade film and transferred to secure vaults.
4. Film reels are stored in Arctic mountain vaults in Svalbard, with redundant multi-continent storage in Boyers, PA for the North American market.
5. You receive a certificate of deposit confirming your archive.
6. Centuries from now, descendants present this certificate to retrieve photos. No account, no password, no technology required.

Each order includes a self-contained QR code manifest on the same archival film, enabling identification centuries from now without any external database.

Privacy by Design

No accounts required. No tracking. The only permanent record exists on the archival film itself, sealed in the vault.

A Gift That Lasts Forever

Whether it's a wedding, a new baby, or a tribute to someone you've lost, preserving photos for 1,000 years says more than any card ever could.

"We're not competing with the cloud," Machalek said. "We're competing with time."

About Eternity.Photos

Eternity.Photos is a consumer archival service that preserves photographs on analog film in Arctic mountain vaults for 1,000+ years. Founded by Pavel Machalek, backed by Slow Ventures.

Media Contact: press@eternity.photos Website: https://eternity.photos/press

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