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In March of 1972, NASA launched the Pioneer 10 spacecraft, which became the first human-built object to fly outside our solar system. On the remote chance that it might one day be found by someone "out there," Pioneer 10 carries a small plaque engraved with basic information about where it came from, and who built it. On the left side of this engraving is a map of earth's location in space, designed by astronomer Frank Drake. It is based on earth's relative distance from fourteen pulsars, or powerful radio-emitting stars. Above this map is a depiction of a hydrogen atom, the most common atom in the universe. Along the bottom of the engraving is a diagram of our solar system, showing the initial route of the Pioneer spacecraft as a line traced from the earth. On the right side of the engraving are line drawings of a man and a woman standing in front of a diagram of the spacecraft, to give a sense of our size. These drawings caused an uproar because they show human beings naked. But despite the controversy, NASA decided to engrave the whole diagram onto the Pioneer 11 spacecraft as well. It was launched in May of 1973 and has also left our solar system for interstellar space.
In 1974, the world's largest radio telescope, the 1000-foot dish at Arecibo,
Puerto Rico, was completely refitted and upgraded. To celebrate the
completion of this project, astronomer Frank Drake used the Arecibo
telescope to broadcast a message into space. This message, consisting
of 1,679 bits of information, was actually intended to create a picture in
black and white dots, 73 dots high by 23 dots across. At the computer speeds
then available, it took about three minutes to broadcast this message. The
message was aimed at the great star cluster of Hercules, also called M-13,
which is 24,000 light years from earth. Obviously, if anyone at M-13 picks it
up, we won't be around to find out. But this didn't bother Drake. He and
other scientists put great effort into designing their picture message.
Though not easy for most people to understand, Drake's message included the
following features: the numbers 1 through 10 in binary code; depictions of
several essential chemical elements including carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and
nitrogen; a diagram of the DNA double helix molecule; a diagram of a human
being; a diagram of our solar system; and a diagram of a radio telescope.
The most ambitious message of all, consisting of electronic pictures,
recorded voices and music as well as engraved diagrams, was placed on board
NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft that left earth in 1977, first to explore
the outer planets of our solar system and then to fly into interstellar space,
where they are today. Then-President Jimmy Carter is included in this
elaborate message to the stars, saying: "This is a present from a small
distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music,
our thoughts, and 
our feelings. We are attempting to survive our time so we may live
into yours. We hope someday, having solved the problems we face, to join
a community of galactic civilizations. This record represents our hope and
our determination, and our goodwill in a vast and awesome universe."
