Does the New Horizons probe carry a message?

[Turbinator]

Since New Horizons is going to become an interstellar probe (all hail probe) after it's fly by of Pluto. I was wondering if it carries any sort of plaque or message to the future discoverers? I was on wikipedia and google trying to find an answer to this. No luck.

The chance of these interstellar probes being discovered by alien life is very small. However, the act of placing a message on such a probe is very noble. It is simply a beautiful way to make the probe a monument to humanity, representing all that is good in us. After all that we know of our planet has long turned to dust, New Horizons will be there, speaking for us. Representing life on Earth, as it was in the early 2000's.

 

[agentgonzo]

Yes, it does, but I can't remember what it is. No golden record like the Voyager and Pioneer era though.

 

[Turbinator]

I find this quote beautiful:

In all likelihood, space probes will be the only things of ours that endure after our species is gone and our planet utterly changed — a few inert, pitted machines will be the sole clues that we ever existed, and the ancient messages they carry our only chance to explain who we were. It’s vanishingly unlikely that any being will ever find the Pioneers, Voyagers or the New Horizons probe in the billion-odd years during which their messages will remain readable. But though imagining such a discovery borders on an act of faith, it’s not impossible.

 

[T.Neo]

Yeah, that's lovely. I really aspire towards that, it's such a grand future for our species when all that's left is a 1 in 10e16 chance that someone will discover some old spacecraft with a bunch of naked people engraved onto it. :dry:

 

[boogabooga]

This might be an urban legend, but I heard somewhere that New Horizons carried Clyde Tombaugh's (Pluto's discoverer) cremated remains.

 

[RisingFury]

Maybe if space travel becomes easy and routine in the future - kinda like what aircraft travel is today, these probes will be recovered and put in a museum...

 

[Ark]

Yeah, that's lovely. I really aspire towards that, it's such a grand future for our species when all that's left is a 1 in 10e16 chance that someone will discover some old spacecraft with a bunch of naked people engraved onto it. :dry:

Yeah, I consider that a worst case scenario. It means we were too stupid and incompetent to stop a space rock or nuclear war.

 

[Turbinator]

So, does anyone know what New Horizons is carrying?

 

[T.Neo]

Maybe if space travel becomes easy and routine in the future - kinda like what aircraft travel is today, these probes will be recovered and put in a museum...

Good luck going far out enough to catch these probes.

They're inactive and far from the Sun too... they would probably be a pain to rendezvous with.

Yeah, I consider that a worst case scenario. It means we were too stupid and incompetent to stop a space rock or nuclear war.

More likely it would mean we were so utterly incompetent so as to not avoid killing ourselves by bumping our heads on ceilings or falling out of chairs...

So, does anyone know what New Horizons is carrying?

I believe it is carrying some of Clyde Tombaugh's ashes, as well as a piece of carbon fibre from SpaceShipOne.

 

[Turbinator]

Good luck going far out enough to catch these probes. They're inactive and far from the Sun too... they would probably be a pain to rendezvous with.

I like to think that in the far, far future we would have the capability to detect deep space objects no matter how small, with ease. With today's technology, imagine what a spacecraft outfitted with an APAR AESA Array could do. Now fast forward in to the future.

More likely it would mean we were so utterly incompetent so as to not avoid killing ourselfs by bumping our heads on ceilings or falling out of chairs...

Now imagine the impossibility of us not killing ourselves off, and surviving. Then fast forward 1 million years in to the future. When everything that stands and will stand on our planet crumbles to rock. When our genetic descendants will not even resemble our present form. Visually we would look like apes to them. Those deep interstellar probes will server as monuments, as tributes of our existence, as we once where.

"A billion years from now, when everything on Earth we've ever made has crumbled into dust, when the continents have changed beyond recognition and our species is unimaginably altered or extinct, the Voyager record will speak for us," - Carl Sagan

 

[T.Neo]

I like to think that in the far, far future we would have the capability to detect deep space objects no matter how small, with ease. With today's technology, imagine what a spacecraft outfitted with an APAR AESA Array could do. Now fast forward in to the future.

The problem is that objects out there are cold and unlit, and easy to mistake for cometary debris, which is abundant. Granted, having a basic idea of where to look and checking trajectories a lot could help.

fast forward 1 million years in to the future. When everything that stands and will stand on our planet crumbles to rock.

In only a million years? That is a geological eye-blink, not much time at all.

When our genetic descendants will not even resemble our present form. Visually we would look like apes to them.

In a million years, unlikely, considering the rate at which organisms evolve. In a billion years, well... nothing really complex has been around for a billion years, so it's difficult to tell.

Considering various factors, it is entirely possible that humans after a billion years of existence would be strikingly similar to us, due to the elimination of evolutionary pressures and survival strains. There are animals around that haven't changed their basic appearance in over 100 million years, so it isn't all that unimaginable.

Of course, if we looked like apes to them... they would not be too dissimilar appearance-wise. Apes are very similar to us both in anatomy and basic appearance, if not to a layperson, certainly to a biologist.

"the Voyager record will speak for us," - Carl Sagan

They may speak, but most likely to a cold and empty abyss, with no audience to be found within light-years...

 

[Codz]

They may speak, but most likely to a cold and empty abyss, with no audience to be found within light-years...

Thats rather pessimistic...

 

[N_Molson]

Still, if we our species extincts (the Sun is going to become a red giant nearly engulfing the Earth anyway), those probes will be a reminder of it. That someone or something finds it one day, that's another story.

 

[T.Neo]

Thats rather pessimistic...

It isn't pessimistic, it's just how things work. You can't expect to send some random little object out into the infathomable abyss of interstellar space and expect someone to rendezvous with it on accident. The chances of that happening are extremely low.

And even in the chance that someone or something does intersect the path of one of those probes, Mr Lkhlfglkhflhg flying through interstellar space and meeting up with a Voyager probe is not going to be a "oh, look at this" moment but a "painless death as the spacecraft is destroyed by relativistic impact" moment... :uhh:

 

[Izack]

It isn't pessimistic, it's just how things work. You can't expect to send some random little object out into the infathomable abyss of interstellar space and expect someone to rendezvous with it on accident. The chances of that happening are extremely low.

And even in the chance that someone or something does intersect the path of one of those probes, Mr Lkhlfglkhflhg flying through interstellar space and meeting up with a Voyager probe is not going to be a "oh, look at this" moment but a "painless death as the spacecraft is destroyed by relativistic impact" moment... :uhh:

I think 'depressing' is the word here.

 

[Jarvitä]

Maybe if space travel becomes easy and routine in the future - kinda like what aircraft travel is today, these probes will be recovered and put in a museum...

I really don't think we should do that. They should be left on their trajectories as a testament to the human spirit of exploration.

 

[T.Neo]

A testament, out in the cold, dark abyss of space, where nobody will appreciate them?

Yeah... :shifty:

 

[TSPenguin]

I really don't think we should do that. They should be left on their trajectories as a testament to the human spirit of exploration.

Why not build the museums around the probes? Instead of bringing them back to earth, we could bring some exhibits from earth to them.
That would bring a whole new meaning to "Trip to the museum"

 

[Keatah]

I did put my name and girlfriend's name on the CD it's carrying. But other than that, it has no voyager or pioneer style of message.

http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=518

---------- Post added at 01:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:47 AM ----------

It's pretty sad though, we could put a few cd's or other storage devices with a helluva lot of information on those and instead we put some dumb stamps or ashes or parts of airplanes?? Good god!!! I guess the Alzheimer's like decision-making process of the "public/historical" outreach center is just plain stolid and old-man-like. Symbolism be damned!

 

[Notebook]

This might be an urban legend, but I heard somewhere that New Horizons carried Clyde Tombaugh's (Pluto's discoverer) cremated remains.

Should be Walt Disney's? He did make Pluto famous...

N.