The Voyager Golden Record: A Message From Earth to the Cosmos

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Key Takeaways

• Time capsule containing Earth’s sounds and images
• Curated by Carl Sagan to communicate with aliens
• Expected to last billions of years in deep space

Introduction To The Voyager Message

In the late summer of 1977, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration launched two robotic ambassadors into the cosmos. Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 began a journey that would take them past the gas giants of the solar system and eventually into the interstellar medium. While the primary objective of these spacecraft involved the scientific study of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, the mission planners recognized a significant secondary opportunity. These probes were destined to escape the gravitational well of the sun and drift through the Milky Way galaxy indefinitely. To mark this momentous departure, NASA authorized the inclusion of a phonograph record, a gold-plated copper disk containing a message from humanity to any extraterrestrial intelligence that might encounter it in the distant future. This artifact is known as the Voyager Golden Record .

The creation of the record was a race against time, led by a small committee at Cornell University . The team, chaired by the astronomer Carl Sagan , had to curate a representation of Earth that was both intelligible and meaningful. They selected 115 images, a variety of natural sounds, spoken greetings in 55 languages, and a 90-minute musical selection. The result is a complex, optimistic, and scientifically grounded time capsule. It serves not only as a message to the stars but also as a reflection of how humanity viewed itself during the late 20th century. The record remains attached to the side of both spacecraft, protected by an aluminum cover, waiting for a listener that may never arrive.

Historical Context And The Pioneer Precursor

The idea of sending a physical message into the cosmos did not begin with the Voyager mission. It was an evolution of a concept first realized with Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 . Launched in 1972 and 1973, these earlier probes were the first human-made objects designed to achieve escape velocity from the solar system. Frank Drake , a pioneer in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), and Carl Sagan persuaded NASA to include a small message on these spacecraft. The result was the Pioneer plaque , a 6-by-9-inch gold-anodized aluminum plate.

The plaque featured line drawings of a human male and female, a diagram of the hyperfine transition of hydrogen, and a map locating the sun relative to fourteen pulsars. While the plaque was celebrated by many as a visionary gesture, it also sparked controversy. Some critics objected to the nudity of the human figures, while others feared that the map provided a roadmap for hostile aliens to find and invade Earth. Despite the debates, the success of the Pioneer plaques paved the way for the more ambitious project aboard the Voyager probes. When the Voyager mission was approved, Sagan and his team realized that the larger spacecraft and more advanced technology allowed for a much denser data storage medium than a simple engraved plaque. They opted for a phonograph record, which could hold audio and, through analog encoding, television-quality images.

The Committee And Selection Process

The task of reducing the complexity of Earth’s history, biology, and culture into a single object fell to a small, dedicated group. Carl Sagan served as the chair of the committee. He was joined by Frank Drake , who acted as the technical director and formulated the scientific diagrams. Ann Druyan served as the creative director, spearheading the collection of sounds and music. Timothy Ferris , a science writer and friend of Sagan, produced the audio montage. Jon Lomberg , an artist who frequently collaborated with Sagan, took charge of the visual content. Linda Salzman Sagan coordinated the greetings and secured the cooperation of the United Nations .

The selection process was intense and often difficult. The committee met frequently to debate what should be included and, more importantly, what had to be left out due to space constraints. They operated under the assumption that the recipients would be sensory creatures with the ability to process visual and auditory information, but they could not assume any knowledge of human languages or culture. This necessitated a reliance on mathematics and physics as a Rosetta Stone. The team also decided early on to present a hopeful image of humanity. They excluded images of war, poverty, disease, and crime. Carl Sagan argued that while these aspects are part of the human condition, sending them to the stars served no purpose. He noted that if the record were found by a malevolent civilization, our weakness would be irrelevant; if found by a benevolent one, our failures might be seen as a tragedy to be pitied rather than a history to be judged.

Physical Construction And Durability

The Voyager Golden Record is an engineering marvel designed for extreme longevity. Standard vinyl records would warp and degrade in the vacuum and radiation of space. Therefore, the Voyager records are made of copper. The core is a copper disk, which provides a stable substrate. This disk is coated with gold. Gold is an inert metal, meaning it does not tarnish or corrode, ensuring the grooves remain pristine for eons. The record is 12 inches (30 centimeters) in diameter, the same size as a standard LP. However, it rotates at a speed of 16 and 2/3 revolutions per minute, half the speed of a commercial 33 1/3 rpm record. This slower speed sacrificed some audio fidelity but allowed the team to fit 90 minutes of audio on each side.

The record is housed in a protective aluminum jacket. This cover protects the gold surface from erosion caused by micrometeoroid impacts in interstellar space. The record is mounted on the side of the spacecraft bus, facing outward. Included with the record is a cartridge and a stylus, providing the finder with the necessary hardware to play the disk. To ensure the record remains decipherable after billions of years, the team used the cover to etch instructions. They also electroplated a sample of ultra-pure uranium-238 onto the cover. Uranium-238 decays into other elements at a very precise and known rate (a half-life of 4.468 billion years). By measuring the ratio of remaining uranium to its daughter elements, an intelligent finder could calculate exactly how long the record has been in transit.

Decoding The Cover Instructions

The aluminum cover of the Voyager Golden Record serves as the instruction manual for the data within. The diagrams etched onto the surface use universal scientific constants to bridge the communication gap. The key to the entire cipher is the hydrogen atom. The cover depicts the hyperfine transition of neutral hydrogen. When a hydrogen electron flips its spin, it releases a photon with a specific wavelength (21 centimeters) and a specific frequency (1420 MHz). The time period corresponding to this frequency (0.7 nanoseconds) serves as the fundamental time unit for the record.

In the upper left, a drawing of the record and the stylus shows how to set up the playback. Binary code surrounding the drawing specifies the rotation speed in terms of the hydrogen time unit. Another diagram depicts the side view of the record, indicating the total playing time. The bottom left of the cover features the pulsar map originally designed by Frank Drake for the Pioneer plaque . This map shows the position of the sun relative to 14 pulsars (rapidly spinning neutron stars). Binary code along the lines marks the pulse period of each star. Since pulsar spin rates slow down over time, this map provides a coordinate in both space and time, allowing the finder to pinpoint the launch date and location.

The upper right section of the cover explains how to decode the image signals. The images are recorded as audio waveforms that must be converted into a video raster. The diagram shows the direction of the scan lines, the number of lines per image (512), and the time duration for each line. A drawing of a rectangle with a circle inside serves as a calibration image. If the recipient decodes the signal and sees a distorted circle, they will know to adjust their equipment until the aspect ratio is correct.

The Sounds Of Earth

The audio content begins with a section titled “The Sounds of Earth.” This 12-minute track is an acoustic poem intended to convey the evolution and diversity of our planet. It starts with a representation of the “Music of the Spheres,” a mathematical translation of the orbital velocities of the planets into sound. This is followed by the abiotic sounds of Earth: wind, rain, surf, thunder, and volcanoes. These sounds establish the physical environment of the planet.

The track then introduces biology. It moves from the croaking of frogs to the songs of birds and the calls of mammals. A prominent feature is the song of the humpback whale. In the 1970s, the discovery that whales sang complex songs was a cultural phenomenon, and Roger Payne provided the recordings. The sequence progresses to humans. There are sounds of footsteps, a heartbeat, and laughter. The sound of a kiss is included, specifically the sound of a mother kissing a child, recorded by Timothy Ferris .

Technological evolution is the final theme of the sound montage. It begins with the chipping of flint tools and the barking of a domesticated dog. It moves through the sounds of herding sheep, a blacksmith’s hammer, and a sawing motion. The industrial age is represented by the sounds of a tractor, a riveter, and the code of a ship’s telegraph. The sequence culminates in the roar of a Saturn V rocket lifting off, symbolizing humanity’s ability to leave its home world. This audio narrative suggests a species that has grown from the mud to the stars.

Greetings To The Universe

The record carries spoken greetings in 55 languages. This section was organized by Cornell University . The team sought to include languages spoken by the vast majority of the world’s population, as well as ancient languages that formed the root of modern civilization. The greetings are not identical translations. Each speaker was asked to provide a brief, friendly message of their own choosing. This resulted in a charming variety of sentiments.

The section opens with Akkadian, an extinct language from ancient Mesopotamia. The speaker says, “May all be very well.” It ends with Wu, a dialect of Chinese, where the speaker says, “Best wishes to you all.” The greeting in Amoy (a Min Nan dialect) is particularly pragmatic: “Friends of space, how are you all? Have you eaten yet? Come visit us if you have time.” The English greeting was not delivered by a head of state or a famous actor, but by Nick Sagan, the six-year-old son of Carl Sagan . His simple message, “Hello from the children of planet Earth,” is one of the most poignant on the record.

The greetings also include a message from the United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim . His message serves as the official diplomatic introduction of the planet. While the audio greetings are short, they represent a linguistic fingerprint of humanity. Below is a categorization of the languages included.

Music From Earth

Music constitutes the largest portion of the record’s data. Carl Sagan believed that music was a universal language that could convey human emotion and mathematical structure simultaneously. The selection process was highly contested. The committee wanted to avoid a purely Western canon, striving for a global representation. They enlisted the help of ethnomusicologists to find tracks that were authentic and structurally diverse.

Johann Sebastian Bach is the most represented composer, with three tracks. The record opens with his “Brandenburg Concerto No. 2.” This piece was chosen for its mathematical precision and upbeat tempo. Ludwig van Beethoven is represented by the first movement of his Fifth Symphony and the Cavatina from String Quartet No. 13. The Cavatina was chosen for its significant sadness, serving as a counterpoint to the exuberant Brandenburg Concerto.

To represent the 20th century, the committee included “Johnny B. Goode” by Chuck Berry . This was a controversial choice. Some scholars argued that rock and roll was ephemeral and not “serious” enough for an interstellar mission. Sagan famously retorted that there are many adolescents on the planet and that rock music is a valid cultural expression. Jazz is represented by Louis Armstrong performing “Melancholy Blues.” The track features a trumpet solo that the committee felt demonstrated a high level of improvisation and creativity.

The non-Western music creates a rich tapestry of global sound. There is a percussion track from Senegal, recorded by Charles Duvelle, which features complex polyrhythms. A girls’ initiation song from the Ituri Forest in the Congo (Zaire) showcases a polyphonic vocal style that predates the European invention of counterpoint. From Japan, the record includes “Tsuru No Sugomori” (Crane’s Nest) performed on the shakuhachi, a bamboo flute. This piece uses silence and breath sounds as musical elements. “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground” by Blind Willie Johnson is a blues track consisting only of slide guitar and wordless humming. It was included to represent the human experience of loneliness and the night.

Images Of Earth

The 115 images on the record were encoded as analog signals. If the record is played and the audio output is fed into a video system with the correct scan parameters, the images are reconstructed line by line. The visual section begins with a calibration circle. This is followed by scientific definitions. There are diagrams defining mathematical numbering systems, physical units of measurement, and the parameters of the solar system. These images are intended to serve as a primer, teaching the recipient how to interpret the photographs that follow.

The collection then moves to biology. There are diagrams of DNA, the structure of the cell, and human anatomy. The anatomical diagrams show the skeletal system, the circulatory system, and the reproductive organs. Notably, the committee had to censor the image of human reproduction. While the Pioneer plaqueshowed nude figures, NASA management feared a public backlash if the Voyager record contained nudity. Consequently, a photograph of a nude man and woman was replaced with a silhouette of a couple holding hands. An image of a fetus and a diagram of conception were included to explain human reproduction scientifically.

The remaining images depict human society and the natural world. There are landscapes showing deserts, forests, and oceans. There are pictures of animals, including dolphins, eagles, and elephants. The cultural images show humans in various states of activity: farmers harvesting crops, a sprinter starting a race, a family eating dinner, and children learning in a classroom. Architecture is represented by the Taj Mahal , the Great Wall of China , and the Golden Gate Bridge . There is also an image of a string quartet and a page of sheet music, which provides a visual key to the audio portion of the record. The final image is a photograph of a sunset with a violin in the foreground, closing the visual presentation with a poetic resonance.

The Brainwave Recording

In a unique experiment, the committee included a recording of human brainwaves. Ann Druyan went to a laboratory at the New York University Medical Center to have her EEG recorded. During the session, she followed a mental script. she thought about the history of the geological formations of Earth, the evolution of life, and the history of human conflict. She also focused on the feeling of being in love. This recording was compressed into a sound file. The hope was that an advanced civilization might have the technology to decipher the neurological patterns and reconstruct the thoughts or emotions of the human subject. While this remains science fiction by today’s standards, it adds a deeply personal and biological dimension to the data.

Presidential And UN Messages

Beyond the spoken greetings, the record contains written messages encoded in the image section. Jimmy Carter , the President of the United States, provided a letter. In it, he characterized the record as a present from a small, distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts, and our feelings. He wrote that we are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours. This message contextualizes the mission not as an invasion or a survey, but as a gesture of goodwill.

The United Nations also contributed a message from Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim . This inclusion was important for the committee. They wanted to ensure the Voyager record was seen as a message from the entire planet, not just the United States. While NASA was the agency responsible for the hardware, the content was intended to be representative of the species Homo sapiens. The visual data also includes a list of the members of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, further anchoring the artifact in the geopolitical reality of 1977.

The Voyager Mission Context

The Voyager program was made possible by a rare geometric alignment of the outer planets. Once every 176 years, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune align in such a way that a spacecraft can use the gravity of one planet to sling it toward the next. This “gravity assist” technique allowed Voyager 2 to complete a “Grand Tour” of all four gas giants in just twelve years, a journey that would otherwise take thirty.

Voyager 1 took a faster trajectory. It flew past Jupiter and Saturn but was then directed to fly close to Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. Titan was of immense scientific interest because it has a thick atmosphere. This detour forced Voyager 1 to exit the plane of the ecliptic, heading upward out of the solar system. Voyager 2 continued in the ecliptic plane to visit Uranus and Neptune. Following their planetary encounters, both spacecraft continued their outward momentum. They are now traveling at roughly 35,000 to 38,000 miles per hour relative to the sun. The Golden Record was a secondary payload, a “hood ornament” on a mission of exploration, but it has since become the defining legacy of the project as the scientific instruments slowly shut down due to waning power.

Interstellar Trajectory And Future

Both Voyager spacecraft have crossed the heliopause. This is the boundary where the solar wind from the sun is stopped by the pressure of the interstellar medium. Voyager 1 crossed this boundary in August 2012, becoming the first human-made object to enter interstellar space. Voyager 2 followed in November 2018. They are now drifting through the space between the stars.

The distances involved are unfathomable. Voyager 1 is heading generally toward the constellation Ophiuchus. In about 40,000 years, it will pass within 1.6 light-years of the star Gliese 445. Voyager 2 is heading toward the constellations Sagittarius and Pavo. In about 40,000 years, it will pass about 1.7 light-years from the star Ross 248. Neither spacecraft will enter a planetary system; they will simply fly past these stars in the dark. The records are expected to remain intact for billions of years. The erosion rate in interstellar space is negligible. The gold plating will protect the grooves from cosmic dust. It is likely that the Voyager Golden Record will survive longer than the Earth itself, which will eventually be consumed by the expanding sun in roughly 5 billion years.

Cultural Legacy And The “Pale Blue Dot”

The cultural impact of the Voyager record was amplified by a photograph taken 13 years after the launch. In 1990, Carl Sagan convinced NASA to turn Voyager 1 ‘s camera back toward the inner solar system to take a “family portrait” of the planets. One of these images captured Earth as a tiny speck of light, less than a pixel in size, suspended in a sunbeam. This image, known as the “Pale Blue Dot,” became a symbol of human fragility.

The Golden Record and the Pale Blue Dot are conceptually linked. The record represents the best of who we are – our art, our science, and our diversity – while the photograph represents where we live. Together, they form a cosmic perspective that challenges terrestrial divisions. The record has inspired artists, musicians, and writers. It appears in movies and science fiction novels as a plot device or a symbol of hope. It forces humanity to look at itself from the outside, to see the planet as a single organism rather than a collection of fractured nations.

Comparison To Other Messages

The Voyager Golden Record is the most sophisticated physical message sent into space, but it is part of a small tradition of interstellar messaging. The Pioneer plaque was the first, but it was limited by its medium; an etching can only convey so much. The Arecibo message , transmitted in 1974 from the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, was a radio signal. It was directed at the globular cluster M13. While it traveled at the speed of light, it was a fleeting pulse, whereas the Voyager record is a persistent artifact.

More recently, the New Horizons mission to Pluto carried some memorabilia, including ashes of Clyde Tombaugh and a CD with names, but it did not carry a curated message of the same scale as Voyager. There have been debates about the ethics of Active SETI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence). Some scientists, including Stephen Hawking , warned that advertising our location might be dangerous. However, the Voyager records are passive. They are not broadcasting. They are simply drifting. The likelihood of them being found is statistically infinitesimal. They are less of a beacon and more of a monument.

Summary

The Voyager Golden Record stands as one of the most romantic and ambitious gestures in the history of human exploration. Secured to the hulls of Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 , these gold-plated phonograph records carry the story of Earth into the cosmic void. Through a curated selection of 115 images, natural sounds, spoken greetings, and music ranging from Bach to Chuck Berry, the records attempt to communicate the essence of humanity to an unknown audience. While the spacecraft themselves have completed their primary mission of planetary exploration and are now drifting through interstellar space, the records remain as enduring time capsules. They are projected to last for billions of years, potentially outliving the civilization that created them. Whether or not they are ever retrieved by extraterrestrial intelligence, their true value may lie in what they taught us about ourselves during their creation: a recognition of our shared heritage and our fragile place in the universe.

Appendix: Top 10 Questions Answered in This Article

What is the Voyager Golden Record?

The Voyager Golden Record is a gold-plated copper phonograph record attached to the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft. It serves as a time capsule containing sounds, images, and music intended to communicate the diversity of life and culture on Earth to extraterrestrial beings.

Who created the Voyager Golden Record?

The content was selected by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan of Cornell University. The team included technical director Frank Drake, creative director Ann Druyan, author Timothy Ferris, artist Jon Lomberg, and Linda Salzman Sagan.

What is written on the cover of the record?

The aluminum cover features etched scientific diagrams explaining how to play the record. These include a map of pulsars to locate Earth, a diagram of the hydrogen atom to define a time unit, and instructions for decoding the image signals.

What music is included on the record?

The record contains 90 minutes of music representing diverse cultures and eras. It features classical works by Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart, rock and roll by Chuck Berry, jazz by Louis Armstrong, and traditional folk music from countries such as Senegal, Japan, Peru, and Bulgaria.

How long will the Voyager Golden Record last?

The record is designed to withstand the harsh environment of interstellar space for a billion years or more. Its gold plating prevents corrosion, and its copper core provides stability, meaning it will likely outlast the human species and the Earth itself.

Where are the Voyager records now?

The records are currently in interstellar space, attached to Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. Voyager 1 is the farthest human-made object from Earth, traveling toward the constellation Ophiuchus, while Voyager 2 travels toward Sagittarius and Pavo.

Why are there no photos of nude humans on the record?

NASA management censored nudity to avoid political controversy, unlike the earlier Pioneer plaque which featured a nude man and woman. The Voyager committee instead used a silhouette of a couple and diagrams of human anatomy to explain our biology.

What languages are spoken on the record?

There are spoken greetings in 55 different languages, ranging from ancient Sumerian to modern English and Mandarin. The selection was intended to represent the majority of the world’s population and includes a message from the UN Secretary-General.

What is the brainwave recording?

The record includes a compressed audio recording of the brainwaves of Ann Druyan. During the recording, she meditated on various subjects including Earth’s history, violence, and the feeling of falling in love, with the hope that advanced aliens could decode her thoughts.

How do aliens play the record?

The record includes a cartridge and stylus for playback. The instructions on the cover use binary arithmetic and the fundamental transition time of the hydrogen atom to explain the correct rotation speed of 16 and 2/3 revolutions per minute.

Appendix: Top 10 Frequently Searched Questions Answered in This Article

What is the purpose of the Golden Record?

The purpose is to share a message from humanity with the cosmos. It acts as a bottle in the cosmic ocean, preserving a snapshot of Earth’s biology, culture, and science for any potential extraterrestrial civilization that might find it in the distant future.

Who is the boy who says “Hello from the children of planet Earth”?

The English greeting was recorded by Nick Sagan. He was the six-year-old son of Carl Sagan and Linda Salzman Sagan at the time of the recording.

Is the Beatles’ song “Here Comes the Sun” on the record?

No, the song is not included. While the committee and the Beatles favored its inclusion, the record company EMI refused to release the rights, preventing the song from being part of the final selection.

How fast is Voyager traveling?

The spacecraft are traveling at roughly 35,000 to 38,000 miles per hour relative to the sun. Despite this immense speed, it will take them tens of thousands of years to pass near another star system.

What is the significance of the uranium on the cover?

A sample of uranium-238 was electroplated onto the cover to serve as a radioactive clock. Because uranium decays at a specific rate, a finder can analyze the remaining isotope ratio to calculate exactly how long the record has been traveling.

Can we still talk to Voyager?

Yes, NASA still communicates with both Voyager spacecraft through the Deep Space Network. However, the signal takes nearly a day to travel one way, and the spacecraft instruments are gradually being turned off to save dwindling power.

Why is Chuck Berry on the Golden Record?

Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” was included to represent rock and roll and American youth culture. Carl Sagan defended the choice against critics who called it “adolescent” by stating that there are many adolescents on Earth.

Does the record contain a map to Earth?

Yes, the cover features a pulsar map that locates the sun relative to 14 rapidly spinning neutron stars. This map provides a galactic coordinate system that points back to our solar system.

What animal sounds are on the record?

The “Sounds of Earth” track features a wide array of animal noises, including the songs of humpback whales, the call of a chimpanzee, the croak of a frog, birdsong, and the barking of a wild dog.

Has the Voyager Golden Record been found?

No, the record has not been found, and it is statistically unlikely that it ever will be. The primary function of the record is symbolic, representing humanity’s hope and desire to communicate, rather than serving as a practical method of contact.

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