http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/music.html
If you had to sum up what Earth is like, what would you say? How would you describe the abundance and diversity of life? How would you summarize all the achievements of mankind? Now, suppose that you were asked to communicate this information to someone who does not speak your language, nor indeed any language that you have ever heard of. Suppose, further, that your audience is apt to interpret pictures, sounds, or symbols in ways that you could not even begin to anticipate. Finally, suppose that this communication must take place via a "message in a bottle", sent off into space, to wash up on some distant "shore", at some inconceivably distant time in the future.
Does this sound far fetched? Well, it shouldn't. This very exercise was carried out in the mid-seventies by a team of scientists with a unique opportunity to send such a message off into space on a pair of spacecraft; the two Viking probes, launched in 1977, that were deployed to explore Jupiter and Saturn. On each of the probes was a gold-plated "phonograph record" that contained a succinct summary of Earth and humanity. The significance of these particular probes was that they were destined to head off into boundless space at the conclusion of their mission. Thus, they were to become the first man-made artifacts to leave the solar system. This was too fantastic an opportunity to miss; "we" (humans) simply had to send a greeting card to whomever/whatever may find the probes.- Amazon
Music On Voyager Record....
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