The Voyagers' Message in a Bottle
Explanation:
Launched in the summer of 1977,
NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft are now over 4.5 billion miles from
the Sun.
Still operational, the Voyagers are being tracked and
commanded through
the Deep Space Network.
Having traveled beyond the outer planets, these remarkable
spacecraft are only the third and fourth human built artifacts
to escape our solar system, following in the footsteps of
Pioneer 10 and 11.
A 12-inch gold plated copper disk (pictured)
containing recorded sounds and images representing human cultures and
life on Earth, is affixed to each Voyager -
a message in a bottle cast into the cosmic sea.
The recorded material was
selected by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan of Cornell University.
The disks are intended to be played like a phonograph record
at 16 and 2/3 revolutions per second. Cartridge and needle are supplied,
along with some simple diagrams (visible above) which
represent symbolically the spacecraft's origin and
instructions for playing the disk.
The exotic construction of the disks should provide them with a long
lifetime as they coast through interstellar space.
The two spacecraft will not make a close approach to
another planetary system
for at least 40,000 years.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
