Wood 1

Tate Wood

Mr. Gibson

General Music I

22 February 2017

The Precious Package of the Golden Record

The Voyager 1 rocket, launched in 1977, was an exploration rocket that was intended to

map out large swathes of our universe, inside and largely outside of our solar system, and

discover new things about our universe (Pellien). And now it has travelled past the edges of our

own solar system, recorded to be about 19.3 billion kilometers from the Sun, and has taught us

many things about it (Van Son). Along for the ride with both the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 is a

Golden Record that contains 55 spoken greetings in as many language, a selection of natural

and man-made sounds, and a 90 minute collection of music from around the world (The

Golden Record). This collection of music, sounds, and even pictures that were included with the

record were intended to stand as a testament to humanity (The Golden Record). This was in

hopes that maybe alien life may have this vessel be presented before them and show them what

the life of humans on Earth was at the time of the vessels launch. The NASA site likens the

Voyager 1 and 2 spacecrafts as a kind of time capsule, intended to communicate a story of our

world to extraterrestrials (What...Golden Record).

A project and idea of this level of complexity can not be started out of thin air though. In

the case of most projects like this, someone with an innovative and creative mind has to come up

with the idea. In this case, the brilliant idea was sprouted from the brain of Carl Sagan. Carl
 Wood 2

Sagan was a physicist who had probably the largest hand in this project. He was largely known

as a public figure and science communicator (Carl...activist). He was among many different

things as well. However, each section of his life usually heavily involved science. He was also

known as a science researcher, a science educator, and a science policy advocator. Sagan is cited

to have made direct appeals to the public on the importance of understanding and supporting

science as well as testified to congress on multiple occasions and, on at least one occasion,

briefed the President of the United States (Carl...activist). Although the entirety of the project

was not thought of by Carl Sagan alone, he and his team had a large part in selecting all the

nature sounds, ninety minutes worth of music, along with the one-hundred and fifteen images

that accompany the Golden Record (What...Golden Record). They also decided what material

the record was to be made of so it could survive the dangers of space -- with drastic temperatures

and the existence of radiation in space -- that could warp the standard vinyl of the time. The

material that was eventually settled on was obviously gold. It also contains copper as well. These

materials were decided on because of their ability to withstand these conditions and are fairly

stable elements. Along with this, Carl Sagan was the one to decide what the cover of the Golden

Record was going to be. This cover art is etched on the back of the record and contains various

hieroglyphic-like images. These images are: instructions on how to set up the record player that

they provided with the record, how to play the record using binary codes, the general information

about how to view the video signals provided, a diagram of our sun using known pulsars in the

form of binary, and a diagram of the lowest state of the hydrogen atom (The Golden...Cover).

Each of these images had a specific reason to be put on the back of the record. The instructions

on how to play the record being among the most important since if this vessel were to fall into
 Wood 3

the hands of some sort of other life on another planet, it is likely that they would not know how

to play the record. The other instructions on how to view the videos are there because of the

same reason as the instructions on how to play the record. The other diagrams are important as

they are on the record to explain the location of the solar system with respect to 14 pulsars,

whose precise periods are given (The Golden...Cover). This is important information because it

could possibly help alien life find the location of the origin of the Voyager vessel. The hydrogen

is also important because the connecting line and digit 1 are meant to give a time interval

associated with the transition from one state to the other is to be used as the fundamental time

scale, both for the time given on the cover and in the decoded pictures (The Golden...Cover). In

essence, every piece of this record is essential and no detail should be left out when discussing

the nature of each piece of it.

This also goes for the music and sounds that were cut into the record to be sent off to the

reaches of the universe to. Each of the thirty-one tracks was handpicked and crafted to create

something that, as wholly and perfectly as they could, represents Earth at the time of the records

creation. As mentioned before, the record does not only contain music but also contains nature

sounds and a little bit of spoken word. The Golden Record starts off with the track Greetings

From the Secretary General of the UN Kurt Waldheim. This message is intended to be a

greeting to whosoever may come across the record on the Voyagers journey. The following

tracks vary from nature sounds to music to more spoken word.

The next track is Greetings in 55 Languages which does not merely have just one

speaker as every greeting on the track is said by a different person. One of these greetings is said

by Carl Sagans son, Nick Sagan in which he says Hello from the children of planet Earth
 Wood 4

(Pellien). The quality of this track varies. However, since it was recorded and cut specifically for

the record, it generally has a higher quality than some of the other tracks. This track, I believe is

among the most important tracks on the record. This is simply because it contains the greatest,

most accurate representation of the immense wide diversity of our tiny planet merely by having

people say hello in their native language. That to me says more than a single song could as far as

the scope of showing diversity goes.

Another track that stands out in importance would have to be the classic Johnny B.

Goode as originally performed by Chuck Berry. This is for a few different reasons. One of these

being that although an already older song by the time the Golden Record was cut yet not old

enough to be considered historical, it was still chosen to represent the very nature of human

beings. This would prove that the song contains elements that strongly show off the optimistic

and joyful nature of human beings. Along with this, the quality of instruments and the quality of

the song itself also stands out as a middle ground showing how far humans have advanced from

the time of Johnny B. Goode to less than two decades from then when the song was being put

on a record and launched off towards the edge of the universe. Combined with these two points, I

feel it was also chosen as it is immensely different from the rest of the tracks on the album as it is

a rock song containing vocals whereas most of the other songs are instrumentals and have a more

cinematic nature to them.

Another song that stands out in a similar fashion because of its difference in genre

compared to the majority of the songs on the record is Melancholy Blues by Louis Armstrong

and his Hot Seven. The instruments involved in the song are a medium range of various big band

instruments such as the trumpet. The quality of the song is relatively high compared to some of
 Wood 5

the other tracks featured on the record. It represents the culture that we know as it shows a genre

of music that sprouted from a mixture of cultures which in and of itself is a much larger culture.

In contrast to the point of a song being important because it stands out, another song that

is important that has commonality is Gavotte En Rondeaux by J.S. Bach. This piece is among

many of the orchestral pieces chosen for the record. The quality of the record is quite impeccable

for the time that it was recorded. I chose this track mostly because it is very pleasing to the ears

and I feel that it represents the culture that we have from a different time but in the same

moment, we also still use it as a cultural representation to this day. If something from another

culture survives time to the modern culture, there is no reason it would not be representative.

Something that is representative in a similar way is Tchenhoukoumen Sengal

Percussion which is performed by Charles Duvelle on the record. This track also has quite

impeccable recording sound quality for the time that it was recorded. As aforementioned, I chose

this track as it represents a part of a culture that has transcended into another culture, thereby

becoming part of an amalgamated culture. In that way, I feel that it, among others, represents the

gigantic culture that is Earth.

In conclusion, the Voyager I rocket is possibly one of the most important pieces of

human culture coming together to push towards one goal. That goal being the expansion of our

horizons far into the reaches of the known galaxy. Even today, the rocket is speeding on into

interstellar space. Although one day we will lose contact with this tiny speck with a

representation of human history, it will hopefully live on for exploration in the hopes that it will

come in contact with alien life and show them our tiny blue home in the infinite universe. (1,674

words)
 Wood 6

Works Cited

Carl Sagan: Researcher, educator, communicator, advocate and activist. Library of Congress.

The Library of Congress, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2017.

Pellien, Jessica. "This day in history Voyager 1 launched by NASA." Princeton University.

The Trustees of Princeton University, 5 Sept. 2014. Web. 22 Feb. 2017.

"The Golden Record." The Golden Record. University of Alaska Fairbanks, n.d. Web. 22 Feb.

2017.

"The Golden Record Cover." NASA. NASA, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2017.

Van Son, Collin. Message in a bottle. Collin Van Son. Penn State University, 11 Dec. 2014.

Web. 24 Feb. 2017.

"What is the Golden Record?" NASA. NASA, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2017.