Do you ever think about the Voyager 1 & Voyager 2 that NASA launched to space in 1977?

Idk why but I still think it's so cool because of the idea that it's meant to give any aliens who find it, an idea of what Earth is, who we are, & how we came to exist.

They put a record player on it, along with a record to play some music from Earth, our languages, & earth sounds. Along with math & illustrations indicating the position of earth based on our sun.
& Even mathematical illustrations of how to play the record.

It's full of images as well.. but not in a traditional way. The backside of the record plays weird sounds. Those sounds are actually an audio code to reveal over 100 images.

It's still by far, the furthest man made probe that's out in space. & There's a slim chance it could end up being deciphered if any aliens do happen to find it some day.

I just saw a video where someone said it's likely that one day Earth will no longer exist & that probe will be the biggest thing left documenting our existence.
Even if it's never found or deciphered, it's quite an accomplishment for it to even be out there in the first place.

Sorry I was kinda nerding out a bit & wanted to share this lol. I know it might be boring to some of you but I'll add a video I just watched where someone deciphered as much as they could 😌

[media=https://youtu.be/RRuovINxpPc]

This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »

exexec · 70-79, C

Yes, I think they are amazing engineering feats. Although I worked in the crewed space programs, I find the unmanned missions to be much more complex and interesting.

ChiefJustWalks · 26-30

@exexec I don't normally look into what NASA does on their missions but I'll take your word for that. It seems the unmanned missions are the ones with the least limitation on what we can do & discover

SomeMichGuy · M

@exexec Really? Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Apollo-Soyuz, Skylab, the ISS?

Neat!

exexec · 70-79, C

@SomeMichGuy Yes, but from an engineering standpoint, they don't compare with robotic missions to Mars and deep space.

SomeMichGuy · M

@exexec The difference in time between those events, and the strict "well-tested equipment" mandate for the Shuttle, means that you are comparing VERY different generations of technology.

From an engineering standpoint, keeping people alive, safe, comfortable, with the ability to leave & return to the spacecraft, and landing on the Moon, returning from that lunar surface, and bringing the people safely back home, along with the many samples...and being able to hit the atmosphere at just the right angle, fall through the atmosphere, deal with the heat of re-entry, splash down, and safely recover those people seems more impressive t9 me.

As you know, the people had limits, needs, parameters which equipment hurled into space often do not. And the Mars rovers and unmanned craft flung out either into Earth orbits or on escape trajectories out of the Solar System are not intended to return, avoiding whole areas of the design tree.

exexec · 70-79, C

@SomeMichGuy You are partly correct. Safety is the primary concern for manned missions, and I worked on risk management for a while. Still, the complexity of the unmanned missions is much greater than the manned ones. Getting people to the moon and back safely today is not much different from the technology in 1969. Getting a robot to Mars and operating it to gather data is much more complex than anything done in 1969 or with the ISS. Getting people to Mars and back safely is an entirely different matter that still needs to be solved.