ken@hrpd3.UUCP (K.COCHRAN) (08/06/85)
I have a question ..... If something the size of a voyager, presumably not radiating much radio energy, were to enter our solar system from an alien culture, is the possibility of us detecting it more than miniscule ? I just wonder it would burn up in the sun unnoticed. If this happens, it would make all Carl Sagan's artistic work of a man and a woman rather pointless, and just a waste of NASA's budget. Ken Cochran vax135!hr1ar!ken
@S1-A.ARPA,@MIT-MC.ARPA:mcgeer%ucbkim@Berkeley (08/09/85)
From: mcgeer%ucbkim@Berkeley (Rick McGeer) >I have a question ..... > If something the size of a voyager, presumably not radiating >much radio energy, were to enter our solar system from an alien >culture, is the possibility of us detecting it more than miniscule ? > >I just wonder it would burn up in the sun unnoticed. If this happens, >it would make all Carl Sagan's artistic work of a man and a woman >rather pointless, and just a waste of NASA's budget. > > Ken Cochran vax135!hr1ar!ken > > If it burned up in the sun, it would have to be on an awfully screwy orbit. More likely, it would simply pass through the system; if it was in the plane of the ecliptic, it *might* be captured, but that too is very unlikely. So, yes, the artwork was a waste of NASA's budget, at least as far as making contact with aliens goes. Rick
eugene@ames.UUCP (Eugene Miya) (08/10/85)
> > I have a question ..... > If something the size of a voyager, presumably not radiating > much radio energy, were to enter our solar system from an alien > culture, is the possibility of us detecting it more than miniscule ? Since we are not actively looking for things like this and the solar system is so large, we would probably not see it. This does not mean that it would burn up into the sun unnoticed. It depends on lots of things like how fast and where it flew thru. > I just wonder it would burn up in the sun unnoticed. If this happens, > it would make all Carl Sagan's artistic work of a man and a woman > rather pointless, and just a waste of NASA's budget. > > Ken Cochran vax135!hr1ar!ken The art work was not the major cost of the mission. The point of the mission was the exploration of the outer planets. The art work was an after fact, and was not all NASA money. Value is pretty relative: you might think the entire mission to the outer planets is pointless. Maybe all of man's works: cities and such, are pointless? Perhaps we should go back to caves? The intent was to have a message which could be detected and deciphered by a civilization more advanced than ours. Any civilization advanced enough to find the record should be advanced enough to construct a crude player. Locate a copy of Murmurs from Earth by Sagan. --eugene miya NASA Ames Research Center {hplabs,ihnp4,dual,hao,decwrl,allegra}!ames!aurora!eugene emiya@ames-vmsb
al@aurora.UUCP (Al Globus) (08/16/85)
> > I have a question ..... > If something the size of a voyager, presumably not radiating > much radio energy, were to enter our solar system from an alien > culture, is the possibility of us detecting it more than miniscule ? > > I just wonder it would burn up in the sun unnoticed. If this happens, > it would make all Carl Sagan's artistic work of a man and a woman > rather pointless, and just a waste of NASA's budget. > Not a waste at all. As was recognized at the time, the chance of extraterestrials seing the work is miminal, but the work has been viewed by thousands, if not millions, of us earthlings.