Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Voyager spacecraft
Credit: NASA/JPL

On September 5 the Voyager 1 will cross its own “time zone” – cruising the vacuum void for four decades.

To spotlight that fact, NASA is asking the public to create messages to Voyager. One of those communiques will be selected for beaming up to the faraway spacecraft.

So you’re invited to send via social media a short, uplifting #MessageToVoyager and all that lies beyond it.

With input from the Voyager team and a public vote, one of these messages will be picked for NASA to beam into interstellar space on Sept. 5, 2017—the 40th anniversary of Voyager 1’s launch.

Rules

As for what and how you can submit a #MessageToVoyager, here are the guidelines:

• Messages can have a maximum of 60 characters (A-Z, 0-9, spaces and punctuation)
• Tag submissions #MessageToVoyager
• Post messages on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Google+ or Tumblr
• Privacy settings on submission posts must be public to be considered
• Submissions must be received by 11:59 p.m. PDT on Aug. 15, 2017
• JPL, NASA and the Voyager team will select their top picks
• The public will choose the winning message by poll on this page from these top picks

Record setting

The Golden Record cover shown with its Earth instructions so ET can play its contents.
Credit: NASA/JPL

Both Voyager 1 and 2 have been likened to time capsules, intended to communicate a story of our world to extraterrestrials.

The Voyager message is carried by a phonograph record, a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk containing sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth.

Both launched in 1977, Voyager 1 is in “Interstellar space” and Voyager 2 is currently in the “Heliosheath” — the outermost layer of the heliosphere where the solar wind is slowed by the pressure of interstellar gas.

Resources

For more information on sending your communiqué to Voyager 1, go to:

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/voyager/message/?linkId=40511444

For an overview of the “Golden Record” on the Voyager spacecraft, go to:

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/voyager/golden-record/whats-on-the-record/