Voyager space mission: what would be on your interstellar playlist?

October 8, 2012 | 5 notes

It’s (almost) official: the Voyager 1 spacecraft has left the solar system for good. It is now navigating through unknown territory, further than any human-built machine has ever been. When organising the interstellar mission, Nasa decided to include music, sounds and scenes that would best represent humanity on the Voyager record. The lists are quite extensive. Music-wise, Voyager has in its belly Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No 2 in F; percussion from Senegal; drums from Peru; Dark Was the Night as performed by Bluesman Blind Willie Johnson; and Melancholy Blues by Louis Armstrong. Sounds from the Earth include volcanoes, thunder, morse code, and a dog. Scenes from our planet include pictures of Jupiter, a nursing mother and a supermarket, and a diagram representing conception.

If another similar mission was being launched today, what music, sounds and scenes would you like to be sent through the solar system, and why? Tell us here or on our open thread.

Photograph: Nasa/AP