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On board the unmanned spacecraft Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 is a plaque with a pictoral message from mankind. The plaque shows the figures of a man and a woman along with several symbols that are designed to provide information about the origin of the spacecrafts. It serves as a kind of interstellar "message in a bottle". However it is very unlikely that it will ever be found. The mean time for the spacecraft to come within 30 astronomical units of a star is longer than the current age of the galaxy.
The Pioneer spacecraft were the first man-made objects to leave the solar system. The plaque is attached to the antenna support struts in a position that shields it from erosion by stellar dust . NASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA (established 1958) is the government agency responsible for the United States of America's space program and long-term general aerospace research. A civilian organization, it conducts (or oversees) re expects the plaque (and the craft itself) to survive longer than the earth and its sun.
1 History
The original idea, that the Pioneer spacecrafts should carry a message from mankind, was first mentioned by Eric Burgess when he visited the Jet Propulsion LaboratoryThe Caltech Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) near Pasadena, California builds and operates unmanned spacecraft for NASA. JPL-run projects include the Galileo Jupiter mission and the Mars rovers, including the 1997 Mars Pathfinder and the twin 2003 Mars Exp, PasadenaPicture of the Colorado Street Bridge Pasadena is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 133,936. It located at 34°10' North, 118°8' West. Pasadena is the main population during the Mariner 9Mariner 9 was a NASA space probe orbiter that helped in the exploration of Mars and was part of the Mariner program. Mariner 9 was launched toward Mars on May 30, 1971 and reached the planet on November 14, of the same year, becoming the first spacecraft mission. Together with Richard Hoagland he approached Dr. Carl SaganCarl Edward Sagan ( November 9, 1934 December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer and science popularizer. He pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence ( SETI). He is world-famous for his popular science books and the who had lectured about communication with extraterrestrialExtraterrestrial as an adjective, refers to something that originates, occurs, or is located outside Earth or its atmosphere. As a noun, the term is used to refer to any life form which comes from outside Earth and its atmosphere. The term has been widely intelligences at a conference in CrimeaThe Crimea (officially Autonomous Republic of Crimea Ukrainian transliteration: Avtonomna Respublika Krym Ukrainian: Russian: is a peninsula and an autonomous republic of Ukraine on the northern coast of the Black Sea. It was called Tauric or Scythian Che.
Dr. Sagan was enthusiastic about the idea of sending a message with the Pioneer spacecraft. NASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA (established 1958) is the government agency responsible for the United States of America's space program and long-term general aerospace research. A civilian organization, it conducts (or oversees) re agreed to the plan and gave him three weeks to prepare a message. Together with Dr Frank Drake he designed the plaque and the artwork was prepared by his wife Linda Salzman Sagan. In recent years, Hoagland (now best known for his studies of a purported portrait of a humanoid Martian face and an associated ruined city in the surrounding area), has attempted to take some credit for the actual design. This claim was strongly denied by both Sagan and Drake, who limit his input only to the idea that there should be some kind of message on the spacecraft.
The first plaque was launched with Pioneer 10 on March 2, 1972, and the second followed with Pioneer 11 on April 5, 1973. Both spacecraft left the solar system in the 1980s.
