TEXTS IN SPACE - WHAT SORT OF PERFORMANCE?

There are currently a number of plaques roaming around the universe in the hope that the signs written on them will be read by some life form capable of interpreting, translating and/or deciphering the signs.

The first plaque was launched into space on Pioneer 10 on the 2^nd March 1972. Pioneer 10 (originally designated Pioneer F) is an American space probe that completed the first mission to the planet Jupiter. Thereafter, Pioneer 10 became the first spacecraft to achieve escape velocity from the Solar System.  A similar plaque was launched on Pioneer 11 on the 6^th April 1973 to study Jupiter and Saturn, solar wind and cosmic rays.

Salzman

The original idea, that the Pioneer spacecraft should carry a message from humankind, was first mentioned by Eric Burgess when he visited the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, during the Mariner 9 mission. He approached Carl Sagan, who had lectured about communication with extra-terrestrial intelligences at a conference in Crimea.

Sagan

Sagan was enthusiastic about the idea of sending a message with the Pioneer spacecraft. NASA agreed to the plan and gave him three weeks to prepare a message. Together with Frank Drake he designed the plaque, and the artwork was prepared by Sagan's then-wife Linda Salzman Sagan.

Burgess

Eric Burgess  was an English freelance consultant, lecturer and journalist, who wrote about the Pioneer program of space missions since the first tests in 1957. Burgess was a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and British Interplanetary Society, and an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. 

     

Frank Drake is an American astronomer and astrophysicist. He is most notable as one of the pioneers in the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence, including the founding of SETI,

Whether the symbols depicted would have any meaning to another ‘intelligent’ life form assumes that the intelligence has vision and a central system capable of reasoning in an identical fashion. I ask myself whether the average terrestrial would make sense of the signs.

Another object sent into space, with similar intentions, was the Voyager Golden Record. This was sent into space on the Voyager space probes on the 20th August and 5th September 1977. 

Record Cover

Golden Record

The contents of the record were selected for NASA by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan. Sagan and his associates assembled 116 images and a variety of natural sounds, such as those made by surf, wind, thunder and animals (including the songs of birds and whales). To this they added musical selections from different cultures and eras, spoken greetings in fifty-six languages (55 ancient and modern languages, plus Esperanto), and printed messages from USA president Jimmy Carter and  U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim..

The collection of images includes many photographs and diagrams both in black and white and colour. The first images are of scientific interest, showing mathematical and physical quantities, the Solar System and its planets, DNA, and human anatomy and reproduction. Care was taken to include not only pictures of humanity, but also some of animals, insects, plants and landscapes. Images of humanity depict a broad range of cultures. These images show food, architecture, and humans in portraits as well as going about their day to day lives. Many pictures are annotated with one or more indications of scales of time, size, or mass. Some images contain indications of chemical composition. All measures used on the pictures are defined in the first few images using physical references that are likely to be consistent anywhere in the universe.

The musical selection is also varied, featuring artists such as Beethoven, Guan Pinghu, Mozart, Stranvinsky, Blind Willie Johnson, Chuck Berry and Kesarbai Kerkar..

After NASA had received criticism over the nudity on the Pioneer plaque (line drawings of a naked man and woman), the agency chose not to allow Sagan and his colleagues to include a photograph of a nude man and woman on the record. Instead, only a silhouette of the couple was included.

The pulsar map and hydrogen molecule diagram are shared in common with the Pioneer plaque.

The 116 images are encoded in analogue form and composed of 512 vertical lines. The remainder of the record is audio, designed to be played at 16⅔ revolutions per minute.

The explanations of the diagrams:

Whatever the explanations, does it follow that any extraterrestrial would necessarily make sense of the signs. Might they not imagine this 'symbol' as being a depiction of the 'intelligence behind the plaque?

Both these 'texts' sent into space purport to explain to the reader the identity of terrestrial beings and their society. How we interpret sign is then a matter of some importance, particularly if we expect that sign to perform.