If you could send one message about humanity into deep space, what would it be?<\/p>\n
For Epping Public School student Saanvi Singh, the remarkable story of human evolution is what she wants to send.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Saanvi Singh (left) had a message about humanity’s evolution, while Zichen Peng’s (right) message talked about humanity’s adaptability.\u00a0 (ABC Radio Sydney: Declan Bowring)<\/p>\n
“We started off as a single cell that couldn’t see, think or feel and we became an evolved species that has a power to harness all the resources on Earth,” Saanvi, a Year 6 student, said.<\/p>\n
“And maybe even in the future, [in] space.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dhruvi Vashisht’s (left) message focused on humanity’s great inventions, while Rishabh Dilip Nair wanted the universe to know we were intelligent emotional beings. (ABC Radio Sydney: Declan Bowring)<\/p>\n
Fellow student Rishabh Dilip Nair wanted to tell the universe that humans were social creatures who shared love and laughs.<\/p>\n
“I want to show that we’re expressive, emotional beings,” Rishabh said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Saanvi and Rishabh are among thousands of people from around the world contributing to a new project to send messages into deep space to tell the universe what it should know about our story on Earth.<\/p>\n
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The project recorded voices at the ICC on Friday and will record more on Saturday in Parramatta. (ABC Radio Sydney: Declan Bowring)<\/p>\n
The HUMANS project, run by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is collecting answers from over 80 countries in more than 65 languages.<\/p>\n
Members of the public recorded their musings in Sydney on Friday, with more answers to be recorded on Saturday at a Parramatta Science Day event.<\/p>\n
The answers will be distilled into a deep space broadcast and put into an eight-inch wafer to be sent into space in 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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A previous HUMANS project had messages etched on to a six-inch and two-inch wafer.\u00a0 (Supplied: Dr Maya Nasr)<\/p>\n
Project co-founder Dr Maya Nasr, a science engineer at Harvard University and the Environmental Defense Fund, says the project pays homage to the Voyager space mission.<\/p>\n
That mission had a similar audio payload, known as the Golden Record, when it was launched into outer space almost 50 years ago.<\/p>\n
The record contained greetings in over 50 languages from around the world and a message from the then-secretary-general of the United Nations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We wanted to get this kind of shared story that echoes the timeless legacy of Voyager and the Golden Record,” Dr Nasr said. \u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Project co-founder Dr Maya Nasr says HUMANS will be more introspective for humanity than the Voyager mission. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
Marking 50th anniversary<\/p>\n
HUMANS (Humanity United with MIT Art and Nanotechnology in Space) is timed to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of the Voyager space probe mission that launched in 1977.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Voyager mission sent two space probes to study planets and space outside the solar system, while also carrying a collection of sounds and images depicting life on Earth.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The two Voyager space probes were launched in 1977. (Supplied: NASA\/JPL)<\/p>\n
As well as dozens of greetings, the Voyager Golden Record featured sounds of animals, wind, thunder and human-originated noises, including machinery and music ranging from Beethoven to Chuck Berry.<\/p>\n
The new HUMANS mission will record thousands of voices from around the world before the 2027 launch.<\/p>\n
Dr Nasr says the project will be more introspective for humanity than the Golden Record.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Voyager Golden Record contained imagery and sounds of Earth. (Supplied: NASA\/JPL)<\/p>\n
“A big part of the messaging … in the Golden Record is to represent who we are as humanity to extraterrestrials,” Dr Nasr said.<\/p>\n
“HUMANS wanted to do a bit more of an inside reflection of who we are.”<\/p>\n
What will also set the project apart from the Voyager mission will be the use of more advanced technology.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Using nanotechnology, the messages’ audio waveforms will be etched as spirals onto an eight-inch wafer, similar to a vinyl record.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We are taking it to a new era,” Dr Nasr said.<\/p>\n
He oversaw an earlier iteration of the project in which participants from around the world spoke of what space meant to them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Their answers were etched onto a wafer and sent to the ISS, while a smaller replica was sent to the moon with the IM-2 mission this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the spacecraft tipped on its side while landing on the moon in March.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Powerhouse museum was recording the voices for the HUMANS project.\u00a0 (ABC Radio Sydney: Declan Bowring)<\/p>\n
Australia’s part in space history<\/p>\n
Thousands are expected to record their messages to the universe over Friday and Saturday at audio booths run by the Powerhouse museum.<\/p>\n
Powerhouse CEO Lisa Havilah says she’s honoured that the science museum was selected to be part of the global project.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We really love to connect local audiences and Sydney audiences with national and international conversations,” Ms Havilah said.<\/p>\n
“It’s an important part of our space and international space and aeronautical history.”<\/p>\n
“Something that … reconnects audiences with that idea 50 years later is a really important one.”<\/p>\n
The HUMANS project wafer will be part of Powerhouse Parramatta’s inaugural exhibition on space when it opens late next year.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you could send one message about humanity into deep space, what would it be? For Epping Public…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188328,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[119732,64,63,119730,119736,119733,119734,30636,21122,128,119735,119731],"class_list":["post-188327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-2025-messages-to-space","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-deep-space-messages","tag-golden-record-2025","tag-humans-project-australia","tag-humans-sydney-students-space-messages","tag-massachusetts-institute-of-technology","tag-mit","tag-science","tag-space-messages","tag-voyager-messages-2025"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}