“The aim is to see other planets and the continents, and whatever else is there – we need to do that,” he said.Peering at the stars many of us wonder if anyone else is out there. Druyan urged study of the moons Enceladus and Europa, while Drake suggested sending a spacecraft to visit the focal point of the sun to use the sun as a gigantic lens. Kaltenegger proposed expanding searches for exoplanets, while Squyres advocated obtaining Mars samples and taking them apart, “molecule by molecule,” to see if there is life there. Looking to the future, the panelists suggested how humanity might explore space. The dearest was whether or not we are going to get our act together as a species and protect the life on this world,” she said. That was the question that was the second-dearest to his heart. “He would be searching for life elsewhere. And he would be working with Lisa and loving her as I do and be really inspired by her commitment.” Druyan replied: “He would be at the Carl Sagan Institute, although it would have another name. “We have the tools in hand to actually spot signs of life on other planets, if they exist, without going there … and we are building telescopes big enough to see them,” she said.Īn audience member asked what Sagan would be doing today if he were alive.
In today’s world, however, we can explore even further – we can find planets orbiting alien suns and analyze what’s in the air of other worlds.
“It’s still mesmerizing,” she said, adding that the Voyager spacecraft is still the only human-touched object to travel beyond the bounds of the solar system. Kaltenegger said she was scientifically inspired by an iconic image taken by Voyager: Earth, seen as the pale blue dot. Steve Squyres advocates for obtaining Mars samples and taking them apart, “molecule by molecule,” to see if life exists there. “It is exemplary of what a class act the Voyager was.” “That was just the first among many groundbreaking images,” Squyres said. A scientific surprise: Voyager’s navigation images of the moon Io revealed seven active volcanoes. As the craft flew through the Jupiter system in 1979, images were downloaded at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Squyres experienced the Voyager era as a 23-year-old Cornell graduate student. “The idea that our scientific ability and curiosity, our intellect, our cleverness could be paired seamlessly with the music and our art and our dream of unity of a planet that reflects not just on one nation, not just the chauvinism of one people, but from all the beauty made on all the continents on Earth.” “Voyager – the mission and the message – was really the essence of Carl Sagan,” said Druyan, Sagan’s widow. “Nothing they have ever done has elicited so much interest and feeling as the Voyager record,” she said. We saw the record completed – essentially untouched and launched into space,” Drake said.ĭruyan explained how the Jet Propulsion Laboratory receives inquiries daily about Voyager and its Golden Record.
“In the end NASA was happy with what we did. “And that weighed heavily on us, but inspired us. It might never be found, but if it did, it would be the only thing in the universe that would memories of the history of this civilization,” Drake said. We would create a record of the existence of … our civilization that would last longer than the Earth itself. “We all had the sense that we were doing something very important. “That turned out to be one of the most beautiful events in my life,” Drake said, and described how university faculty and staff picked images that portrayed life on Earth.Īnn Druyan speaks about the Voyager mission. “The Voyager missions profoundly influenced every planetary scientist working today,” Lunine said.ĭrake and Druyan reminisced about creating the Golden Record at Cornell with the late astronomer Carl Sagan. Duncan Professor in the Physical Sciences and director of the Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, moderated the panel. Weeks Professor and principal investigator of the Mars Exploration Rovers mission and Lisa Kaltenegger associate professor of astronomy and director of Cornell’s Carl Sagan Institute, for “40 Years of Cosmic Discovery: Celebrating the Voyager Missions and Humanity’s Message to Space.” Radio astronomy pioneer Frank Drake ’52, chairman emeritus of the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute and a former Cornell professor of astronomy, joined Ann Druyan, a Peabody and Emmy award winning writer and producer, creative director of NASA’s Voyager Interstellar Message Steve Squyres ’81, Cornell’s James A. Lisa Kaltenegger makes the case for examining the atmospheres of exoplanets. Credit: Robert Barker/University Photography
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