NASA’s Search for Aliens
Are humans the only intelligent species in the universe? Or are there other intelligent beings somewhere? If aliens really exist, then it is natural to think that perhaps aliens ask such questions too. Are they alone in this universe? How can we establish communication between two intelligent species in our universe? Keeping this in mind, NASA has spearheaded many projects.
To somehow send a message to the aliens, in 1977 NASA launched its Voyager 1 spacecraft with a clearly defined mission: to explore our solar system including its outer planets, the edges of our sun’s effects, and even beyond that. In simple words, it was an interstellar mission.
There are millions of solar systems in our Milky Way Galaxy. The space between these solar systems is known as interstellar space. Till date, NASA has launched only 5 interstellar spacecrafts. They were the Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, Voyager 2 and New Horizons. And only 2 of these 5 have been able to reach interstellar space because it takes an extremely long time to reach the interstellar space beyond our solar system. The two that have reached this are very special. Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 they went around exploring our solar system giving in amazing photos of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Till date, Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have gone near Uranus and Neptune.
And the Voyager 1’s journey has been so long that it has officially become the man-made object that went farthest from the Earth. As of October 2024 it is 24.7 billion kilometers away from the Earth.
But the most interesting part about these two Voyagers is that they are carrying messages for aliens that is now travelling through space. These messages were sent with hope that we might meet aliens someday and through these messages we can tell them something about us. We step out of our solar system into the others.
What is hidden in these messages? What messages does NASA want to convey to aliens on behalf of humankind?
Let’s know the story of the Voyager missions. In 1965 an engineer working at NASA noticed that the last four planets of our solar system, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, would be in a unique geometric arrangement during the late 1970’s. An unique arrangement which occurs only once every 175 years.
This arrangement meant that spacecraft could be sent which could take advantage of the gravitational force of these four planets and pass near these four planets, using relatively little fuel and time. This principle is called Gravity Assist. Using the mass of a planet or an object in space to change its speed and trajectory.
Based on this principal, NASA made plans for its Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 missions. And this is why the year 1977 was chosen to launch these two spacecraft.