Panel to Discuss Impact of Voyager Mission's Golden Record

Voyager 1 and 2, humanity's farthest and longest-lived spacecraft, both carry a golden record. This phonograph record, a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk, contains sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth. Imagined by Carl Sagan and his team, it is both a time capsule and a greeting intended for extraterrestrials. Forty years after NASA's Voyagers ventured into space, this cosmic greeting still has an impact on Earth as it causes us to think about what it means to be human and the possibility of life in the universe.

Please join us on Thursday, September 28 from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. in Beckman Auditorium as Jason Bentley—KCRW's music director, and a cultural influencer—moderates a panel discussion on how the golden record came to be, how it has affected popular culture, and how it might be different if it were done today. The panelists include:

• Ann Druyan—creative director of the Voyager interstellar message; writer, producer, and director of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey
• Reggie Watts—vocal artist, musician, comedian, and technologist
• Lynda Obst—bestselling author; producer of Interstellar, Contact, Sleepless in Seattle, and many other films
• David Pescovitz—coproducer of the vinyl release of the golden record; research director at Institute for the Future; editor and partner at Boing Boing
• Ed Stone—Voyager project scientist; David Morrisroe Professor of Physics, and Vice Provost for Special Projects, Caltech

All members of the Campus and JPL communities and retirees are welcome, along with their guests. Tickets, which are free, are limited to two per person; they are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Contact the Caltech Ticket Office by calling (626) 395-4652 between 10:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

For details, contact Dan Goods at (818) 393-6219 or [email protected]. Or email [email protected].