We're Going Too! Options

[djellison]

Doug

[dvandorn]

Getting *really* crowded! My certificate number is 421919.

-the other Doug

[Marcel]

Getting *really* crowded!  My certificate number is 421919.

-the other Doug

You're one out of 14220 world citizens that took the opportunity of being on board !

[ljk4-1]

As I stated back in the forum on the Cassini signatures disc:

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...indpost&p=19752

For something that is essentially preserving a piece of ourselves for literally millions of years or more (far longer than anything made by us that will last on Earth), there should be more than just a bunch of names on that disc.

Note I did NOT say you couldn't have signatures, just that there should be something more - to say nothing of a better means of preservation, as cosmic radiation will wipe out the DVD and make it unreadable. Plus, do you think those who may find it in the far future will know how to read a DVD, human or otherwise?

Something of this magnitude should be more than just a publicity stunt, which a bunch of names on an easily destroyed medium is all that it is.

[Marcel]

The phtalates (weakeners) in the transparent material a DVD or CD is made of, is thought to cause the disc to be useless in about 200 years (the material will get white, cracky stuff in the end).

So, they should have scratched our precious names on gold plates !!

[ljk4-1]

The phtalates (weakeners) in the transparent material a DVD or CD is made of, is thought to cause the disc to be useless in about 200 years (the material will get white, cracky stuff in the end).

So, they should have scratched our precious names on gold plates !!

Exactly - The Voyager Records will last at least 1 billion years. Even if those who find it cannot reproduce the 118 images on it, they can use the stylus and needle placed with the Records on the space probes, put the needles in the groove, and spin the Records to hear the sounds, languages, and music on them. Can't do that with a DVD.

Radiation will not destroy them (remember, one half of the Record is protected by the space probe body itself) and no fancy technology is required to read at least part of them.

http://www.cedmagic.com/featured/voyager/voyager-record.html

[ustrax]

Exactly - The Voyager Records will last at least 1 billion years.  Even if those who find it cannot reproduce the 118 images on it, they can use the stylus and needle placed with the Records on the space probes, put the needles in the groove, and spin the Records to hear the sounds, languages, and music on them.  Can't do that with a DVD.

Radiation will not destroy them (remember, one half of the Record is protected by the space probe body itself) and no fancy technology is required to read at least part of them.

http://www.cedmagic.com/featured/voyager/voyager-record.html

Just to tell you that it was wonderful to read the interpretation of the Voyager record, I didn't knew about those details.
Thank you.

Comparing it, looks like we, onboard New Horizons took a charter flight...

[ustrax]

Adding something more...
Seing the images contained on the record...A lot of time has passed...

http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/sceneearth.html

And I don't know if it is a good idea of sending stuff about our conception, x-rays of our body...Call me what you want but I wouldn't enjoy if some hostile civilization would arrive her knowing that they would have to atomize my testicles to end with us and break all my hand bones to prevent an impulsive, but understable reaction from my part...

[odave]

http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/sceneearth.html

Neat.

In the "Mathematical Definitions" image, I've never seen the binary digit zero represented as a dash. Is that something that's common, or is it just to distinguish it from the base-10 zero for the Voyager record?

[ljk4-1]

Neat.

In the "Mathematical Definitions" image, I've never seen the binary digit zero represented as a dash.  Is that something that's common, or is it just to distinguish it from the base-10 zero for the Voyager record?

I can't say on the number question, but if you look at the image where they
show a diagram of DNA:

http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/images/image016.gif

The base Cytosine is symolized with an S instead of the usual C because they did not want the ETI to confuse it with the carbon in this diagram:

http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/images/image014.gif

You can read about the decision and other interesting facts in the choosing of the images in the 1978 book, Murmurs of Earth. You can find it sometimes on eBay and at used bookstores with a decent science section. Definitely worth it.

If anything, this book should be online. I know they came out with a CD-ROM of all the items on the Record in 1992, but the disc is already incompatible with modern equipment.