[X] My Assistant

[dilo]

Far from today's news...
Do you recall that a DVD disk was placed onboard the Cassini spacecraft, containing the signatures from 616,420 people around the world?
DVD with signatures on way to Saturn
I sent my signature, and I bet that I'm not the only one in this Forum...
Now, do someone knows if there is an online viewable copy of DVD? I would like very much to check my name (probably not easy to find...!)
Marco.

[elakdawalla]

I finally found my copy of the disk. It contains 27,000 separate TIFF files. An example taken at random from the U.K. folder:



(I blacked out the addresses on the postcards.)

So...I do have access to a complete copy of all the signatures. However, searching it for specific ones would be very tedious. The TIFF files are sorted by country, and, within the US, by state, but other than that there's no identifying information connected with each file. Sorry to disappoint. I'd be happy to place a copy of the contents of the disk online, but I'm a little worried about posting all the addresses on the postcards. They are 8 years old, but...

If anyone knows someone who wants to pull and catalog hundreds of thousands of signatures from among 27,000 individual tiff files, send them to me!

Emily

[mchan]

So...I do have access to a complete copy of all the signatures.  However, searching it for specific ones would be very tedious.  The TIFF files are sorted by country, and, within the US, by state, but other than that there's no identifying information connected with each file.  Sorry to disappoint.  I'd be happy to place a copy of the contents of the disk online, but I'm a little worried about posting all the addresses on the postcards.  They are 8 years old, but...

I had sent my signature in and would like to check if it made it on to the disk. So I would like a copy of the disk to search.

However, when you got the copy of the disk at the conference, was there any accomanying document describing its use? E.g., you may not reproduce, exhibit, etc. You may want to check with Legal before putting it online.

Mike

[ljk4-1]

When and if the disc is ever recovered from Cassini, does anyone honestly think a future civilization will be able to read a DVD, even an advanced technical one that could pluck a spacecraft from around Saturn? And what will a bunch of names and addresses mean centuries hence - to say nothing if it is found by an ETI.

[Katie]

When and if the disc is ever recovered from Cassini, does anyone honestly think a future civilization will be able to read a DVD, even an advanced technical one that could pluck a spacecraft from around Saturn?  And what will a bunch of names and addresses mean centuries hence - to say nothing if it is found by an ETI.

I guess for me just the idea that my name is up in space is enough. I work with preschoolers and toddlers. I'll never be part of the space program but knowing that a little piece of me is up there orbiting Saturn and will be orbiting Pluto in 10 years is enough even if it's just my name and no ET ever finds or makes sense of it.

[Bob Shaw]

The early Pioneer Lunar probes were accompanied by (probably) hundreds of autographs, and good luck messages - but *not* on the spacecraft. The launch crew and others autographed the aerodynamic shroud, which of course was jettisoned during ascent, but they made their point anyway!

Does anyone know of other such examples of informal messages aboard spacecraft? I'm sure that there must be lots...

[dvandorn]

The early Pioneer Lunar probes were accompanied by (probably) hundreds of autographs, and good luck messages - but *not* on the spacecraft. The launch crew and others autographed the aerodynamic shroud, which of course was jettisoned during ascent, but they made their point anyway!

Does anyone know of other such examples of informal messages aboard spacecraft? I'm sure that there must be lots...

I recall a story (that has been verified, I believe) that a member of the Grumman close-out crew at the Cape, when buttoning up the MESA equipment table in LM-5 prior to the launch of Apollo 11, wrote a short note (something like "Good luck and Godspeed") and his signature on the inside of the thermal blanket that covered the MESA's contents. When Armstrong pulled the blankets off, he saw the message, didn't say anything at the time, and didn't even mention it in the crew debriefing -- but he did tell his superiors quietly, and apparently that Grumman guy got sacked.

-the other Doug

[ljk4-1]

I recall a story (that has been verified, I believe) that a member of the Grumman close-out crew at the Cape, when buttoning up the MESA equipment table in LM-5 prior to the launch of Apollo 11, wrote a short note (something like "Good luck and Godspeed") and his signature on the inside of the thermal blanket that covered the MESA's contents.  When Armstrong pulled the blankets off, he saw the message, didn't say anything at the time, and didn't even mention it in the crew debriefing -- but he did tell his superiors quietly, and apparently that Grumman guy got sacked.

-the other Doug

I hope the ending to that story is the only untrue part, because firing some poor guy who worked on the system and only wanted to give the astronauts a wish you well message is just wrong, be it 1969 or 2005 or any other era. What, his writing would have damaged the MESA somehow? If it was that delicate, it should never have been sent to the Moon.

Along with the requisite plaques and medallions sent on numerous Soviet probes:

http://www.mentallandscape.com/V_Pennants.htm

I know that a USA flag was rolled up into one of the support legs of Surveyor 1 in 1966, but I do not have the reference handy.

Oran Nicks recounts in his NASA book Far Travelers, that a member of the Mariner 2 team had put a USA flag in the first US probe to Venus in 1962. You can read it here and the whole book online:

"Jack James' penchant for patriotic display came to light as Mariner 2 was well on its way to Venus, when he disclosed that he had personally placed a small American flag between some layers of thermal material on top of the spacecraft. Had I known about this when it occurred, I would have reacted as I did when Jack later had a seal added to the Mariner 4 compartment cover.

"Some day future Americans may recover Mariner 2 and rejoice in exposing its national symbol, proving that Jack was right in doing what I considered to be sensitive at the time. As things turned out, I am proud that our flag and great seal are out there in orbit about the Sun along with the planets."

http://history.nasa.gov/SP-480/ch4.htm

You can see the Seal of the United States on the side of the first American Mars probe here:

http://www.petermasek.info/m4gallery.html

Dare I ask what was so sensitive about putting a small flag on a probe? A weight issue? A threat to the technology of the craft? Could not have been anything PC back then.

As for writing messages on the Pioneer lunar probe rocket shrouds, a National Geographic Magazine issue from 1959 actually has a photo of a launch pad technician writing his name and good wishes on the Pioneer 2 shroud. Maybe all that ink and graphite kept these probes from making it to the Moon.