In the 1970s, a rare phenomenon occurred: the outer planets of the Solar System lined up inside each other. This alignment was a scientific opportunity that had to be seized. Scientists and engineers built the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft. The main purpose of the Voyager spacecraft was to visit each of the outer gas giants. However, this was not the only purpose of the Voyagers. As the Voyagers ventured into space, there was obviously no way for them to return. Rather, they will simply drift through empty space, eventually even leaving the solar system, which both spacecraft have accomplished in the past decade. Voyager 1 became the first man-made object to leave our solar system, and Voyager 2 became the second.
Voyager 1 and 2 launched in 1977 and their journey took them to Jupiter and Saturn. Voyager 1 did not continue on to other planets, but instead left the void of space. Voyager 2 continued on to Uranus and Neptune, and to this day is the only spacecraft to have completed a flyby of these two worlds. Voyager 2 gave scientists their first close-up look at these outer gas giants, and even to this day, decades later, new discoveries are still being made from pictures taken by Voyager 2.
Memories of Earth
Voyager’s Golden Record. Cover design shows directions to the Solar System, NASA
Traveling to the outer planets was, of course, the first, primary goal of Voyager’s mission, but it was not the only goal. Both spacecraft were equipped with gold phonograph records as well as a gold envelope with hieroglyphs on it. The record contains images of human society as well as music from throughout history and around the world, as well as many other aspects of our society. Science, math, technology, even recordings of multiple human languages and whale language were included in the recording. These records hold the memory of our world and who we are. There is virtually nothing in space to corrode the Voyagers, and so they will continue drifting in space for about five billion years. This, of course, is a very long time, even longer than the existence of our solar system.
The scientists sent the gold records in the hope that maybe in five billion years some alien species might come across them. The odds, of course, are next to zero, but five billion years is a long time. Five billion years ago there was no Earth. Voyagers may even be discovered by a civilization yet to develop. There may not even be an Earth in five billion years. In five billion years, all life will have disappeared, the oceans will have disappeared, the continents unrecognizable, and the sun will likely have swallowed the Earth as it nears the end of its life.
Despite these drastic changes, the two Voyagers will continue their journey through space, unaware of the events taking place on their home world. Our world, Earth, will no longer exist. All that will be left of our civilization are those two spaceships that were sent so long ago. Earth will have died, but these two Voyagers will continue to carry the memory of that world. As they continue into space, these spacecraft carry a part of us with them. Five billion years from now, those memories will still whisper softly as Voyagers continue their lonely journey through the void of interstellar space.
Aidan Remple July 2, 2022 in Science
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