The Voyager Golden Record: NASA's $1,500 time capsule designed to outlast humanity
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By Space Daily Editorial Team · Editorial process
Pure flour-power. Hearty enough to carry you through lunch.
Summary
In 1977, NASA attached gold-plated phonograph records to the Voyager spacecraft, containing a curated collection of Earth's sounds, music, greetings in 55 languages, and 115 images. Chaired by Carl Sagan with a tiny budget of about $1,500 and less than six weeks, the committee assembled a time capsule designed to outlast both the spacecraft and potentially human civilization itself. The record includes natural sounds (surf, wind, thunder, birdsong, whales), human sounds (a kiss, a baby, footsteps, laughter), and Ann Druyan's brainwaves, creating a message intended to survive long after the probes fall silent.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledIn the late summer of 1977, NASA bolted a gold-plated copper phonograph record to the side of each of the two Voyager spacecraft.
The committee that chose what went on it, chaired by the astronomer Carl Sagan, had less than six weeks and a tiny working budget, often described as about fifteen hundred dollars.
What they assembled... was 115 images encoded in analog form, greetings in 55 languages, around 90 minutes of music, and a sound essay of Earth: surf, wind, thunder, birdsong, whales, a kiss, a baby, footsteps, laughter.
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