The message consisted of greetings in 55 human languages, and the salutations of humpback whales, as well as 118 images, 27 pieces from the world's great musical traditions and an essay written in sound that tells the story of our planet from its earliest formation, through the evolution of life and development of technology up to the present.
Like a time capsule, the Golden Record is expected to last nearly 5 billion years. Each disk is encased in a protective aluminum jacket along with a cartridge and a needle. Instructions explaining from where the spacecraft originated and how to play the disk are engraved onto the jacket, according to NASA.
It is like a message in a bottle tossed in the cosmic ocean. Space is mostly empty, so the chances of either of them being received are very small.
However, "this record represents our hope and our determination, and our good will in a vast and awesome universe," according to the excerpt from former U.S.president Jimmy Carter's official statement placed on the Voyager 1 spacecraft.
On Tuesday, William Shatner, famous for playing Captain Kirk in the original "Star Trek" series and movies, helped to send a special message to Voyager spacecraft at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL).
Out of 30,000 submitted, the message, which was originally submitted on Twitter by @Asperger_Nerd, was chosen by popular vote to transmit to the distant spacecraft.
"We offer friendship across the stars. You are not alone," the message reads. Continuing to travel outward, Voyager carries the message to the stars.
VOYAGERS ARE "AS HEALTHY AS SENIOR CITIZENS CAN BE"
Many assumed that the twin spacecraft would lose contact with home by now. However, even with 40 years of space flight behind them, the Voyagers are still sending back valuable data.
Today, Voyager 1 and 2 are "as healthy as senior citizens can be", said Suzanne Dodd, the Voyager project manager. "Each of them has had different ailments over the years."
For example, "Voyager 2 is tone-deaf: every time we send a command to the spacecraft we have to put it in two different frequencies in order for the spacecraft to hear it. Voyager 1 does not have an operating plasma science instrument, and what that means is Voyager 1 cannot really directly feel the solar wind and the high-energy charged particles coming from the sun," Dodd said.
Next, scientists will have to decide which instruments to turn off to conserve power from the spacecraft's nuclear generators, some instruments should be running until at least 2025, and maybe longer.
"I hope that I can sit here 10 years from now with all these folks and talk about the 50th anniversary of Voyager launch and still have them flying," Dodd said.
Communications will be maintained until the spacecraft's nuclear power sources can no longer supply enough electrical energy to empower critical functions.
Until then, there's still much to learn about the boundary of our heliosphere and what lies beyond in the space between the stars, according to NASA.
"From many points of view, Voyager really represents humanity's most ambitious journey of discovery," Voyager principal investigator Edward Stone said. "It's really I think legacy".
Space is the "newest realm of human activity," and a new frontier for mankind, the renowned American space scientist told Xinhua in an earlier interview.
