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Scenes from Earth on the Voyager Spacecraft
- adffasdsfdasfd 15y agoMuch of this stuff makes us look like we are morons. I think we should send out a much cooler Voyager with better stuff aboard, not amateur hippie artwork. Oh, of course at the time it was cool, but now that we've seen Contact, the bar has been set: video of Hitler that somehow includes puzzle-like map of a device built by technology not even understood by the people that broadcast it.
- dctoedt 15y agoThe "Mathematical Definitions" photo was fascinating. http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/images/image003.gif http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/images/image003.gif
- georgecmu 15y agoCheck out http://perl.plover.com/yak/12views/img/q01.gif http://perl.plover.com/yak/12views/img/q01.gif
- adffasdsfdasfd 15y agoHow about http://www.turning-pages.com/contact/1323fb7/c013.jpg http://www.turning-pages.com/contact/1323fb7/c013.jpg
- georgieporgie 15y agoI wonder why every alien-oriented mathematical thing I've seen includes binary. It doesn't seem very important to me to communicate that we understand base two, versus showing some more advanced mathematical formulas.
- onemoreact 15y agoThe assumption is they will understand counting dots easily, = sign, then base 2, then another = sign, then base 10. It's to help both with the = sign and figuring out we use base 10.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- georgieporgie 15y agoI don't see how base two has anything to do with improving the clarity of base ten. The only use for it I can see is with adding reinforcement for the equals sign, but that just doesn't seem very necessary when you show dots next to 1..10, then a couple of larger numbers.
- scott_s 15y agoUsing dots to indicate what number we mean with our glyphs doesn't scale. So we need an intermediate notation to bootstrap the process.
- georgieporgie 15y agoI don't recall any base two which wasn't next to dots.
- scott_s 15y ago7 and higher: http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/images/image003.gif http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/images/image003.gif
- ars 15y agoBecause binary in fundamental. You can pick any higher base you want, but everyone understand binary, so it's useful for transmitting information. > versus showing some more advanced mathematical formulas We aren't trying to teach them math, or show off. It's about setting a method of communication.
- jjcm 15y agoBecause we've learned from the Rosetta stone that having more than one language system is extremely helpful for translating things. Translating something like this with no knowledge of the human race is an enormous endeavor. By providing three bases (base 1, base 2, and base 10), it'll be much easier to extrapolate their meaning. Base 1 should be fairly universal, and since much of our world today revolves around base 2 and 10, having each of those present will make for an effective starting point. Think of it this way - if an alien probe landed on earth today, wouldn't it be a nice starting point to know that they use a mix of base 7, base 342, and base 61 for their number systems?
- georgieporgie 15y agoif an alien probe landed on earth today, wouldn't it be a nice starting point to know that they use a mix of base 7, base 342, and base 61 for their number systems? I doubt that would be useful information. I would be most interested in knowing what number systems they used natively. Humans (almost?) universally use base ten.
- francescolaffi 15y agoisn't 5+⅔ = 5 ⅔ really easy to get wrong?
- jbri 15y agoConsider that in every other context listed, {glyph1} {glyph2} (where both glyphs are numerals) indicates "{value of glyph1} * {base} + {value of glyph2}". For anyone with a passing familiarity with our number system, yes it's straightforward. But this wasn't produced for those people - it was produced for people with absolutely no prior experience with human culture whatsoever.
- ComputerGuru 15y agoPlease note that these images are copyright protected. Reproduction without permission of the copyright holder is prohibited. Are you f*cking kidding me? How are they copyright protected? As a NASA project, the images are government owned and therefore public domain. Moreover, and OBVIOUSLY you're broadcasting them into outerspace. Are you going to sue the aliens for publishing these images in their newspapers once contact is made? Get real.
- adffasdsfdasfd 15y agoI think they just want to make money off of merchandise that uses the artwork.
- zalew 15y agowait when they find out alien technology infringes some earth patents
- sehugg 15y agoI'm guessing these have been contributed by many copyright holders who have made them available to NASA for the Voyager mission, but have not put them into the public domain.
- ComputerGuru 15y agoYeah, that was my guess too. But none of the pictures are amazing, they're just random stuff of random human life. They can surely do better than that.
- ars 15y agoThat's actually the point. Archaeologists are always searching for information about ordinary life. There is tons of data on famous people, kings, leaders, warriors. But very little on day to day life.
- ComputerGuru 15y ago
- georgecmu 15y agoI was more impressed by these images intended for aliens' consumption: http://perl.plover.com/yak/12views/img/q01.gif http://perl.plover.com/yak/12views/img/q01.gif http://perl.plover.com/yak/12views/img/q02.gif http://perl.plover.com/yak/12views/img/q02.gif ... http://perl.plover.com/yak/12views/img/q23.gif http://perl.plover.com/yak/12views/img/q23.gif Can you decode them?
- bitwize 15y agoYeah, those are Blasto, Adventure, and Miner 2049er on a TI-99/4A that overheated and had a graphical glitch.
- ajasmin 15y agoThose low res glyphs look like they come from the Space Invaders game.
- lloeki 15y agospoiler alert, if you want to decode them q01.gif counts in dots and associates it with binary X and O. The most often repeated symbol (like a double-dashed integral) looks like a separator, or more probably an equal sign. It follows that then rightmost side of each equation is numbers too, in decimal form since 10 is one followed by zero. Underside are a list of prime numbers in base 10. The last line is a Mersenne prime, precisely 2^3021377-1, which I suppose was among the largest primes proven at that time. It also conveniently defines minus symbol and exponent notation by offset. The XO on top define page number in binary, and also define page orientation. The middle symbol certainly defines some chapter. The symbols are certainly so convoluted to resist bit rot and/or tampering, offering some form of redundancy, and making them unambiguous upon rotation.
- majmun 15y agohow will alien distinguish this from random noise that is scrached on disk.
- joezydeco 15y agoConsidering the aliens are examining an interstellar space probe with manufactured materials and systems, perhaps they could intelligently conclude that the disc isn't there for any other purpose than to contain information?
- majmun 15y agobut still you need to interpret that data, which can be done in infinite number of ways
- scg 15y agoI'm assuming that's what this metal plate [http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/images/golden_rec_sidebar.gif http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/images/golden_rec_sid...] and the calibration circle [http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/images/image001.gif http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/images/image001.gif] are for.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- mirkules 15y agoCan you explain what the metal plate and calibration circle are for? (edit: I meant, how do they work?) To me, the plate looks like Death Star blueprints, so I'm a little relieved to hear that it's not what I originally thought :)
- joezydeco 15y agoGoing from memory, the plate defines a base unit of measurement based on the frequency of the Hydrogen atom (lower right). Hopefully every space-travelling civilization has got that one down on paper. Then it goes into how to play the record back (the speed is drawn around the edge of the record), then how to demodulate the waves, then how to convert the data into scanlines and plot them in a square and get to the calibration circle (middle of the disc). It's kind of quaint that we sent this record of civilization out as gold-plated LP record. Very 70's.
- iliis 15y agoThis gave me one of the best "the world is awesome"-feelings. Seeing how much we discovered, how much we know, seeing humans being humans, living their life. And at the same time knowing that we are only a drop in the ocean of the universe. Barely escaped from the claws of evolution. All these messages a tiny hope, that maybe someday somewhere somebody/thing will discover them. A tiny scream against the vastness of interstellar space. And we we wonder. Wondering how 'they' will perceive us. What will they think of us? Will they understand us? Like thinking about seeing your girlfriends parents for the first time. Only on a vastly grander scale... Hm, sorry for this little anti-rant. Some things are ... not meant to be captured by words.
- jaaron 15y agoMost likely the records will never be discovered. Possibly they will be the last remaining evidence of humanity's existence, out lasting our civilization, the last living human, and perhaps even the surface of the earth. In that sense, I find it interesting and in fact comforting that even millions, perhaps billions of years after humanity has been erased, we will have at least left a tiny crumb hinting at our past.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- martinkallstrom 15y agoInteresting to think about how this was conceived as representative of human culture: http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/images/image082.gif http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/images/image082.gif Who on earth (literally) drinks like that? :)
- egor83 15y agoWhen I was in Catalonia, they said that this container and way of drinking are both local customs. They explained it's a heritage from times of plague - this way you drink without touching (thus contaminating) it.
- kprobst 15y agoThe 'bota' (boot) is a leather/skin bag filled with wine that's very common in Spain. It's basically used the same way.
- beej71 15y agoHeh. I'm guessing "normal" alternatives wouldn't clearly illustrate that it was a liquid that was being consumed.
- jamesgagan 15y agoNeat, but not all pictures are linked. Here's s site that has working links to all the pictures: http://re-lab.net/welcome/images.html http://re-lab.net/welcome/images.html
- adrianwaj 15y agohttp://re-lab.net/welcome/images/image108.gif http://re-lab.net/welcome/images/image108.gif Should've had words "Oh Shit" placed at top, and some graphical representation of defecation.
- adrianwaj 15y agoMaybe a book of pics would have been better, or some microfilm - that is if the aliens can even see in our spectrum.
- dekz 15y agoBut this disk, unless I'm mistaken, can be updated on the fly. It also provides a primitive starting point to read our current storage mediums, which if the world were to end in 2012 could provide an alien civilisation a glimpse of what we were (if they take the journey).
- odge 15y agoIt's supposed to last for at least 40 000 years
- mmaunder 15y agoConsidering the rarity of planets in a habitable part of a galaxy, with a magnetosphere, favorable chemistry, an atmosphere, oceans, plate tectonics, single central star, a moon that didn't fall in the roche zone and break up to form rings that bombard us, etc.. the creators of Voyager might have thought twice about giving out that map to our awesome little life supporting planet. The return message might be (as suggested in Contact) a guide to their colonization procedures.
- ghshephard 15y agoThis has been well covered - but the odds of someone finding Voyager, as compared to the approximately 30 Light Year Radius of Radio Energy we've been pumping out, is a number which pretty much approximates zero.
- mmaunder 15y agoActually V1 has a 20W transmitter on-board that will stay operational until around 2025. It's busy crossing into the Heliopause which means it's a transmitter far from the noise and obstructions of the solar system. The craft will fully cross into the Heliopause in around 2015 so will have a decade of transmitting in deep space.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- javert 15y ago"The artifact appears to contain data about a civilization on the third planet of a previously-unknown star system. The inhabitants' bodies are made of metal or (sometimes) wood, and have wheels affixed for locomotion. The inhabitants seem to have an obsession with some sort of soft-bodied apparatus, which they appear to consume as fuel." --Lord Arquhus, Report to the XVIIth Convention
- gacba 15y agoDid anyone else dig into the quotes section for "Messages from Earth"? (http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/greetings.html http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/greetings.html) This one made me chuckle because all I could think about was the Simpsons Halloween episode where the aliens have cookbooks about cooking humans: "Friends of space, how are you all? Have you eaten yet? Come visit us if you have time."
- noduerme 15y agoSo, other than "gold plated LP", what format this was this actually encoded in? It's designed to play back completely analog, scanned to a screen? Are the pixels shown only once or scanned repeatedly? What kind of screen / machine keeps those pixels lit long enough to see? Does NASA actually have a terminal that reads this thing somewhere?
- jberryman 15y agoHere ya go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_Golden_Record#Playback http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_Golden_Record#Playback
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- DuncanIdaho 15y agoIt's interesting that we didn't put up any nuclear explosion photos. As proud as we appear of our technology. Is keeping it a secret a decency or tactical play?
- mvkel 15y agoThis seems more like an exercise for NASA engineers to succinctly summarize the human race, instead of an intuitive discovery tool for aliens.