The Voyagers' Message in a Bottle
Explanation:
Launched twenty-five years ago,
NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft are now over 10 billion kilometers
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
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 the late
Carl Sagan.
Simple diagrams on the cover
(visible above) represent symbolically
the spacecraft's origin and give 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.
