Carl Sagan showed that the greenhouse effect was responsible for temperatures on a. Mercury b. Mars c. Venus
Sagan advocated for a. nuclear advancement b. nuclear détente c. nuclear disarmament
Sagan began to fear the effects of global climate change in a. the 1960s b. the 1970s c. the 1980s
Discussion/essay questions
Do you think space exploration is important for the future of humanity? Why or why not?
Transcript
Carl Sagan was an American astronomer and science writer. He is widely known for his 1980 TV series Cosmos and book by the same name, which helped introduce astronomy concepts to everyday people. Sagan was very interested in the possibility of alien life. He studied the climates of other planets to find out if they were habitable. He was the first scientist to show that the high temperatures on Venus were because of a greenhouse effect. In the 1970s, Sagan led the project of putting together the Golden Records for NASA’s Voyager probes. Sagan and his team chose a series of images and sounds to represent life on Earth. Sagan was very concerned about the future of humanity. He advocated for nuclear disarmament, and his research on Venus’s climate caused him to fear the effects of global climate change early in the 1960s.
The records are made of a. copper-plated gold b. gold-plated aluminum c. gold-plated copper
The records contain depictions of human a. religion b. language c. politics
The covers of the records have a. engravings of human anatomy b. engravings of important monuments on Earth c. engravings that explain how to retrieve the sounds and pictures
Discussion/essay questions
The Golden Record team chose not to include images of war, poverty, and other negative parts of humanity. Do you think this was a good decision? Why or why not?
Which sounds and images would you choose to represent Earth? Why?
Transcript
In 1977, NASA launched two space probes, called Voyager 1 and 2, to explore and photograph the solar system. They knew that the probes would eventually drift too far away to bring back to Earth, so they decided to use the opportunity to create a greeting for alien civilizations. Each Voyager craft contains a gold-plated copper record. A team of researchers chose a series of sounds and images to represent Earth, including drawings of human anatomy, photographs of nearby planets, and songs and languages from around the world. On the covers of the records, the researchers engraved pictures that explain how to retrieve the information. Although there is a very small chance that an alien civilization will ever discover the Golden Records, they are built to last for a billion years, and they will likely outlive the human race.
