The map of Earth’s location placed by NASA on four spacecraft sparked controversy about the risk of encountering aliens.
In the 1970s, the US Space Agency (NASA) placed golden discs showing Earth’s position on four spacecraft in the hope of being able to contact aliens. However, Dr. Frank Drake, who designed the map on the golden disc, recently admitted that this decision could lead to catastrophic destruction for humanity.
Dr. Drake designed the map placed on the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft launched in 1972 and 1973. Similar maps were also placed on NASA’s Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes launched into space in 1977. All four ships have flown out of the solar system and are entering deep space carrying a map of Earth’s coordinates.
“At that time, all my colleagues were optimistic people, believing that aliens were very friendly,” National Geographic quoted Drake yesterday. “No one thought, even for a fleeting second, that this could be a dangerous job.”
The metal disc placed inside the Pioneer spacecraft depicts a man and a woman standing along a rough map of the Earth, along with the planet’s position relative to distant pulsars. Pulsars are stars that exist and shine long enough to be able to show the way to aliens if they are millions of light years away from Earth.
The pair of Voyager probes launched into space with golden discs engraved with similar quasar maps. NASA’s goal was to preserve an object that could reveal where Voyager came from and how long it had been traveling.
The golden discs contain sounds captured from nature, such as volcanic eruptions and thunder, as well as noises associated with human life, such as trains, horse-drawn carriages and even a kiss between mothers and fathers. child.
Although the interstellar map has potential dangers, the possibility of aliens receiving the message is very small, according to Dr. Drake. “The spacecraft is flying at a speed of 10 km/s. Considering the normal distance between stars, it will take half a million years for the spacecraft to go from one star to another at the current speed,” said Dr. Drake said.
Dr. Drake is not the first expert to warn about the dangers of contact with aliens. Professor Stephen Hawking, famous astrophysicist, emphasized that meeting species from other planets could wipe out humanity.
According to Professor Hawking, if aliens find Earth, they will likely want to invade and colonize our planet, similar to when Native Americans encountered explorer Christopher Columbus.