A GRAND LEGACY: THE GOLDEN RECORD The nickel-plated master record is inspected before it’s used to press the discs
Production begins on the Golden Records for the Voyager probes in June 1977
One of the records, in its aluminium protective sleeve, is mounted onto a Voyager probe
The gold-plating is applied to the copper records
ZDV QR PHDQ IHDW EXW OXFNLO\ NASA had two astronomers experienced in sending physical messages into space: famed astrophysicist and science populariser Carl Sagan and SETI IRXQGHU )UDQN 'UDNH 6DJDQ DQG 'UDNH KDG GHVLJQHG WKH SODTXHV used for the earlier Pioneer mission – a pair of goldanodised aluminium panels that pictured a nude man and woman, along with symbols providing information about the origin of the two spacecraft.
Earth in a groove
a phonograph record containing a glimpse of our planet as it was then. The technology behind these ‘Golden Records’ might be antiquated by modern standards, but it is a simple one, and NASA believed that an advanced civilisation would be able to comprehend it easily enough. Each Golden Record carries a wealth of information, including 116 analogueencoded images, greetings in 55 languages, a 12-minute montage of natural sounds from Earth and 90 minutes of music. The records are mounted in protective sleeves made from
aluminium, into which are etched diagrams and binary code containing all the information needed to play them. Also inscribed on them is the location RI WKH 6XQ LQ UHODWLRQ WR NQRZQ pulsars so that the origin of the records can be deduced should DQ\RQH Ć…QG HLWKHU RQH RI WKHP 7KH SDFNDJHV are completed by ultra-pure samples of the isotope uranium-238, allowing the age of the Voyagers to be determined through radioactive dating, and D VW\OXV WR SOD\ EDFN WKHLU PHVVDJH Portraying the diversity of life and culture on Earth on a record
NASA/JPL-CALTECH X 7
“NASA believed that an advanced civilisation would be able to comprehend the technology easily�
,W ZDV 6DJDQ DQG 'UDNH ZKR Ć…UVW suggested a more ambitious message for the Voyager probes during a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in January 1977. Soon after, NASA approved the idea DQG WDVNHG 6DJDQ 'UDNH DQG D committee that included artists and authors to depict as much of our existence as possible on the record in a matter of months. 7KH WHDP VHW WR ZRUN WDONLQJ WR KLVWRULDQV IRONORULVWV DUWLVWV and ethnomusicologists, as well as consulting with political groups and documentarians. Artist Jon Lomberg selected the pictures of Earth, which were highly diverse: from an image of the Taj Mahal to a picture of fallen leaves. The images came from various sources, including NASA, National Geographic and Sports Illustrated, but if Lomberg FRXOGQĹ?W Ć…QG DQ DSSURSULDWH LPDJH RU GLDJUDP KH RU 'UDNH simply drew it themselves. Z
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THE STORY OF VOYAGER
Instructions are etched into the protective sleeves