A truly historic Space Age recording is up for auction as the personal copy of the master tapes belonging to Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan for the crafting of the Golden Record that flew on Voyager 1 and 2 goes on the block at Sotheby's.
There's an odd human tendency to place messages in bottles and toss them into the sea. It may be done literally or metaphorically with pyramids, monuments, and time capsules being cast on the sea of time. Some, like the Westinghouse Time Capsule in New York, were carefully crafted to preserve some record of our civilization for people 5,000 years from now. However, that's amateur stuff compared to the Golden Record that flew on NASA's Voyager missions now on their way out of the solar system and may not be found for hundreds of millions of years.
The Golden Record was conceived by NASA as the next logical step after the two Pioneer missions that each carried an anodized aluminum plaque bolted to the probes having a simple message etched on them showing an outline of the spacecraft, a drawing of a man and a woman, a pulsar map with the location of Earth, the layout of the solar system, and some physical constants to help any alien life to decipher the message.
Because Voyager was larger than Pioneer and there was more time to prepare, NASA formed a committee chaired by astronomer Carl Sagan of Cornell University to devise a longer, more complex message. With the help of Ann Druyan, Frank Drake, and others, they came up a copper LP record plated in gold for protection on its long journey. This was sealed inside a special container along with a phonograph needle just in case Victrolas are scarce on Epsilon Indi.
The record carried audio tracks of Earth sounds, greetings in 59 different languages, and a selection of 27 musical pieces that was so eclectic that it caused some controversy when it turned out that many familiar classics were not included to make way for incredibly obscure selections known only to ethnomusicologists.
However, the exciting part about the message is that phonograph records can record images as well as sound – a fact well known to amateur television enthusiasts of the 1920s. This allowed engineers to include 115 images alongside audio of Azerbaijani bagpipes. Some of these images were diagrams to confirm that the playback equipment was working right, instructions on how to find Earth, mathematical equations, and explanations of Earth biochemistry. These were followed by scenes of Earth life, including architecture, people eating, athletic events, dancing, technology, agriculture, and wildlife.
In addition, the record cover is implanted with an ultra-pure sample of the radioactive isotope uranium-238, which will provide the finder with a built-in clock to show how long Voyager has been in space. There is also a hand-carved inscription stating, "To the makers of music – all worlds, all times."
"The Voyager missions are among the greatest acts of exploration in history, and the undertaking of the Golden Record reflects the incredible optimism, fascination, and humility when faced with the great unknown of the universe," said Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby’s Global Head of Science & Popular Culture. "Led by Ann Druyan and Carl Sagan, the production of the Record was a monumental task, and it is a great honor to offer their personal copy of this most profound and unique artifact."
The Golden Record master tapes remains up for bids until July 27, 2023, and are expected to fetch between US$400,000 and $600,000.
Source: Sotheby's
