A Christmas present for the person who has everything? Only $50. I might be interested if it was a true replica made of copper and gold plated. I know $$$ but would definitely be much more of a collectors item suitable for mounting on the wall.

http://www.houstonpress.com/news/nasa-voyager-records-launched-in-1977-now-available-to-the-public-9992426

NASA's Voyager Golden Record Now Available to the Public
DIANNA WRAY | NOVEMBER 28, 2017 | 4:00AM

It's been 30 years since NASA scientists launched the famed Golden Records — described by NASA as a mixed tape "intended to communicate the story of our world to extraterrestrials" — on Voyager spacecrafts 1 and 2, and while aliens have had the opportunity to give the records a listen as the spacecrafts have drifted deeper into space over the years, the public has never had the chance to own these records, until now.

The contents of the records were selected for NASA by a committee chaired by famed physicist Carl Sagan and the records were intended to give extraterrestrials an idea of what life on Earth means. To accomplish this, the record includes the sound of wind, rain, whales, birds, the brain waves of a woman falling in love (that of Sagan's not-yet-but-soon-to-be-second-wife Ann Druyan, a writer who met Sagan while working on this project) and spoken greetings from Earth in 55 languages.

“The chances of aliens finding the Voyagers in the vast emptiness of space are small — some say infinitesimal — but we took our jobs seriously,” Druyan said, according to NASA. “From the moment when [Sagan] first broached the project to Tim Ferris and me, it felt mythic.”

They chose to use records as their format because eight-track tapes would degrade in space due to radiation, opting for a copper record dipped in gold because it would hold up against both the radiation and the extreme temperatures of space.

The records also offer an incredible selection of music from all over the world. If aliens ever find and figure out how to play this record they'll discover the sounds of Chuck Berry ripping into his guitar, the magnificent thundering of Beethoven and the mournful longing of Blind Willie Johnson moaning the blues.

It's unclear if aliens will ever actually find and hear these records — Voyager 1 left our solar system in 2012 and Voyager 2 is still making its way out of the solar system, and who knows when or if they will ever reach a destination that comes equipped with listeners. And the listeners will have to be smart enough to know how to play the record as well.

"The spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced spacefaring civilizations in interstellar space," Sagan acknowledged at the time the record was put together and sent up on Voyager 1 and 2. "But the launching of this bottle into the cosmic ocean says something very hopeful about life on this planet."

Either way, the records are finally going to be available here on Earth.

A Kickstarter campaign by Ozma records raised more than $1 million to issue a limited number of copies of the record on vinyl. The campaign was such a success the company has opted to release copies of the record to the public.

The first records, complete with the sounds, images and everything else put together by Sagan and company, along with media coverage of the Voyager record as well, will go out at the end of January in a limited edition box set issued by record distributor Light in the Attic. The pre-order price is $50.

A Christmas present for the person who has everything? Only $50. I might be interested if it was a true replica made of copper and gold plated. I know $$$ but would definitely be much more of a collectors item suitable for mounting on the wall.

http://www.houstonpress.com/news/nasa-voyager-records-launched-in-1977-now-available-to-the-public-9992426

NASA's Voyager Golden Record Now Available to the Public
DIANNA WRAY | NOVEMBER 28, 2017 | 4:00AM

It's been 30 years since NASA scientists launched the famed Golden Records — described by NASA as a mixed tape "intended to communicate the story of our world to extraterrestrials" — on Voyager spacecrafts 1 and 2, and while aliens have had the opportunity to give the records a listen as the spacecrafts have drifted deeper into space over the years, the public has never had the chance to own these records, until now.

The contents of the records were selected for NASA by a committee chaired by famed physicist Carl Sagan and the records were intended to give extraterrestrials an idea of what life on Earth means. To accomplish this, the record includes the sound of wind, rain, whales, birds, the brain waves of a woman falling in love (that of Sagan's not-yet-but-soon-to-be-second-wife Ann Druyan, a writer who met Sagan while working on this project) and spoken greetings from Earth in 55 languages.

“The chances of aliens finding the Voyagers in the vast emptiness of space are small — some say infinitesimal — but we took our jobs seriously,” Druyan said, according to NASA. “From the moment when [Sagan] first broached the project to Tim Ferris and me, it felt mythic.”

They chose to use records as their format because eight-track tapes would degrade in space due to radiation, opting for a copper record dipped in gold because it would hold up against both the radiation and the extreme temperatures of space.

The records also offer an incredible selection of music from all over the world. If aliens ever find and figure out how to play this record they'll discover the sounds of Chuck Berry ripping into his guitar, the magnificent thundering of Beethoven and the mournful longing of Blind Willie Johnson moaning the blues.

It's unclear if aliens will ever actually find and hear these records — Voyager 1 left our solar system in 2012 and Voyager 2 is still making its way out of the solar system, and who knows when or if they will ever reach a destination that comes equipped with listeners. And the listeners will have to be smart enough to know how to play the record as well.

"The spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced spacefaring civilizations in interstellar space," Sagan acknowledged at the time the record was put together and sent up on Voyager 1 and 2. "But the launching of this bottle into the cosmic ocean says something very hopeful about life on this planet."

Either way, the records are finally going to be available here on Earth.

A Kickstarter campaign by Ozma records raised more than $1 million to issue a limited number of copies of the record on vinyl. The campaign was such a success the company has opted to release copies of the record to the public.

The first records, complete with the sounds, images and everything else put together by Sagan and company, along with media coverage of the Voyager record as well, will go out at the end of January in a limited edition box set issued by record distributor Light in the Attic. The pre-order price is $50.

Please send Chuck Berry more!

Yeah, that would be slick.

I remember the run- up and launches of both of those craft. One of the things that sticks out in my memory is the fervor stirred up by the depictions of two humans, one male and one female, in line drawings.... the debate was because they were shown nude. I know when I discover a new life- form, I am always shocked if it is nude and think all life forms should at least be wearing discreet underwear whenever out where it can be seen.

I can only imagine if FaceTwit was around back then, we would probably still be debating exactly what to send off into space.

Brian

A Christmas present for the person who has everything? Only $50. I might be interested if it was a true replica made of copper and gold plated. I know $$$ but would definitely be much more of a collectors item suitable for mounting on the wall.

<snip>

How do you make it play?

is it a 33 1/3 ?

Yeah, that ought to throw the 'aliens' right there, 30% of 100 RPM. Perfect. Clearly an intelligent race. Then, the time units of minutes. One- 60th of one 24th of the time it takes our planet to rotate one full revolution. Oh, yeah, they are going to want to write back to us right away and see what we've been up to over these last, oh, 100,000 years or so.....

 

Brian

P.S. Wait until they see how we give directions in New England: "Go until you get to the spot where Mr. Clark's cow used to stand and turn left. Watch for a mailbox stand that used to be white, on the right, and it is the fourth house after that on the left." Oh yeah, we're gonna' be colonized in about 4 minutes.....   

is it a 33 1/3 ?

I'm holding out for the CD version.

is it a 33 1/3 ?

I would think so based on when Voyager was launched.  78's had gone out of style by then, but how would the Aliens know what speed to play it?  We should have sent a record player with it.

Right. We did.

It would really be a stretch to send along an album to a foreign species and expect them to figure out how to read the squiggly grooves in the disc. There are also instructions in the form of line drawings as to how to play the record....

It is not likely any living / intelligent entity will ever find either Voyager. I think what is more important is that both represent another few, small steps for our race: we gained significant data on the gas giants in our own solar systems, as well as measuring radiation and a few other things through our entire solar system. Finally, man actually succeeded in 'reaching out' beyond the limits of our own solar system. I believe the data sent along was actually pretty insignificant as a factor in the Voyager series but it was certainly not a mistake to do so as they <may> be found and better vessels with valid information never deliver anything than actually having a craft of ours BE found and yield no information as to what sent it or from where. And yes, there are diagrams showing our location that any species with limited (US 1930's) technology can read, such as our position w/in the Milky Way galaxy, and other, more detailed information also. So they kind of have a 'return address' written in a way any intelligent species can decipher.

Brian

I would think so based on when Voyager was launched.  78's had gone out of style by then, but how would the Aliens know what speed to play it?  We should have sent a record player with it.

So they kind of have a 'return address' written in a way any intelligent species can decipher.

That's just great. The most pressing issue concerning the most powerful nation on the planet is who tweaked whose nipple and we're telling possible aliens where to find us. 

+1 Dead People Walking..

I'm holding out for the CD version.

 

Told ya', we're gonna' be colonized in about four minutes...... and probably for the best (or worst) reason of all: because we NEED supervision.

Brian

So they kind of have a 'return address' written in a way any intelligent species can decipher.

That's just great. The most pressing issue concerning the most powerful nation on the planet is who tweaked whose nipple and we're telling possible aliens where to find us. 

I would think so based on when Voyager was launched.  78's had gone out of style by then, but how would the Aliens know what speed to play it?  We should have sent a record player with it.

Or which direction to spin it?  If they play it backwards, they might hear the TRUE message, like when you play "Stairway to Heaven" backwards and hear the actual Satanic message.  We might have sent them something that says, "We are on our way to annihilate you in your sleep" when played the other way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXpEtF4i1oI

40 years old and Voyager 1 is still working!

http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/01/us/voyager-1-thrusters-fired-first-time-since-1980/index.html

Voyager 1 spacecraft thrusters fired up for first time since 1980


(CNN) — It's a good idea to have a backup plan, especially in interstellar space.

NASA scientists needed to reorient the 40-year-old Voyager 1 -- the space agency's farthest spacecraft -- so its antenna would point toward Earth, 13 billion miles away. But the "attitude control thrusters," the first option to make the spacecraft turn in space, have been wearing out.

So NASA searched for a Plan B, eventually deciding to try using four "trajectory correction maneuver" (TCM) thrusters, located on the back side of Voyager 1. But those thrusters had not been used in 37 years. NASA wasn't sure they'd work.

Tuesday, engineers fired up the thrusters and waited eagerly to find out whether the plan was successful. They got their answer 19 hours and 35 minutes later, the time it took for the results to reach Earth: The set of four thrusters worked perfectly. The spacecraft turned and the mood at NASA shifted to jubilation.

"The Voyager team got more excited each time with each milestone in the thruster test. The mood was one of relief, joy and incredulity after witnessing these well-rested thrusters pick up the baton as if no time had passed at all," said Todd Barber, a propulsion engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

"With these thrusters that are still functional after 37 years without use, we will be able to extend the life of the Voyager 1 spacecraft by two to three years," said Suzanne Dodd, project manager for Voyager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.


Launched 40 years ago

In 1977, the twin spacecrafts Voyager 1 and 2 were launched, 16 days apart. In September 2013, NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft became the first human-made object to leave the solar system, entering interstellar space, the environment between the stars.

Voyager 2 lags behind, but according to NASA, the spacecraft is following the lead of the first Voyager and is on course to enter interstellar space in the coming years. The pair are still exploring the outer solar system and continue to communicate with Earth daily.

The Voyager missions discovered the first active volcanoes beyond Earth, at Jupiter's moon Io, and hints of a subsurface ocean on Jupiter's moon Europa. They encountered Saturn's largest moon, Titan, where data showed a thick Earth-like atmosphere; found the icy moon Miranda at Uranus; and spotted icy-cold geysers on Neptune's moon Triton.

The significance of Voyager is the vast amount of knowledge of outer space it has provided and the interest in further exploration. That interest has resulted in the Galileo mission to Jupiter and the Cassini mission to Saturn, as well as the discovery of three new moons around Saturn using Earth-based instruments.


The future of Voyager

Because of the success in the attempt to test Voyager 1's TCM thrusters, NASA plans to test the ones on Voyager 2. The need to use them is not as immediate, however, because the primary thrusters of Voyager 2 have not significantly degraded.

It is expected that in the year 40,272, Voyager 1 will come within 1.7 light years of an obscure star in the constellation Ursa Minor (the Little Bear or Little Dipper) and in about 40,000 years, Voyager 2 will come within about 1.7 light years of a star called Ross 248, a small star in the constellation of Andromeda.

"It is expected that in the year 40,272, Voyager 1 will come within 1.7 light years of an obscure star in the constellation Ursa Minor (the Little Bear or Little Dipper) and in about 40,000 years, Voyager 2 will come within about 1.7 light years of a star called Ross 248, a small star in the constellation of Andromeda."

I'll mark my calendar and stand by......

  Just fricken amazing the bang for the buck we got with the voyager program. A decimal point of the cost of the shuttle but still giving us data almost 1/2 century later.

40 years old and Voyager 1 is still working!

http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/01/us/voyager-1-thrusters-fired-first-time-since-1980/index.html

Voyager 1 spacecraft thrusters fired up for first time since 1980


(CNN) — It's a good idea to have a backup plan, especially in interstellar space.

NASA scientists needed to reorient the 40-year-old Voyager 1 -- the space agency's farthest spacecraft -- so its antenna would point toward Earth, 13 billion miles away. But the "attitude control thrusters," the first option to make the spacecraft turn in space, have been wearing out.

So NASA searched for a Plan B, eventually deciding to try using four "trajectory correction maneuver" (TCM) thrusters, located on the back side of Voyager 1. But those thrusters had not been used in 37 years. NASA wasn't sure they'd work.

Tuesday, engineers fired up the thrusters and waited eagerly to find out whether the plan was successful. They got their answer 19 hours and 35 minutes later, the time it took for the results to reach Earth: The set of four thrusters worked perfectly. The spacecraft turned and the mood at NASA shifted to jubilation.

"The Voyager team got more excited each time with each milestone in the thruster test. The mood was one of relief, joy and incredulity after witnessing these well-rested thrusters pick up the baton as if no time had passed at all," said Todd Barber, a propulsion engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

"With these thrusters that are still functional after 37 years without use, we will be able to extend the life of the Voyager 1 spacecraft by two to three years," said Suzanne Dodd, project manager for Voyager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.


Launched 40 years ago

In 1977, the twin spacecrafts Voyager 1 and 2 were launched, 16 days apart. In September 2013, NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft became the first human-made object to leave the solar system, entering interstellar space, the environment between the stars.

Voyager 2 lags behind, but according to NASA, the spacecraft is following the lead of the first Voyager and is on course to enter interstellar space in the coming years. The pair are still exploring the outer solar system and continue to communicate with Earth daily.

The Voyager missions discovered the first active volcanoes beyond Earth, at Jupiter's moon Io, and hints of a subsurface ocean on Jupiter's moon Europa. They encountered Saturn's largest moon, Titan, where data showed a thick Earth-like atmosphere; found the icy moon Miranda at Uranus; and spotted icy-cold geysers on Neptune's moon Triton.

The significance of Voyager is the vast amount of knowledge of outer space it has provided and the interest in further exploration. That interest has resulted in the Galileo mission to Jupiter and the Cassini mission to Saturn, as well as the discovery of three new moons around Saturn using Earth-based instruments.


The future of Voyager

Because of the success in the attempt to test Voyager 1's TCM thrusters, NASA plans to test the ones on Voyager 2. The need to use them is not as immediate, however, because the primary thrusters of Voyager 2 have not significantly degraded.

It is expected that in the year 40,272, Voyager 1 will come within 1.7 light years of an obscure star in the constellation Ursa Minor (the Little Bear or Little Dipper) and in about 40,000 years, Voyager 2 will come within about 1.7 light years of a star called Ross 248, a small star in the constellation of Andromeda.