Europa Clipper blasted off this past Sunday on its six-year voyage to Jupiter. Its mission: to search for water on Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons. Like the Pioneer (1972) and Voyager (1977) space probes, the latter now traveling through interstellar space, Europa Clipper is not just a quest of science. The research probe contains our earthly greetings, a permanent marker of when, where, and who we are, and an opening to any beings encountering it eons into the future.
Pioneer 10 and 11 carried plaques conceived by Carl Sagan. The Golden Record hitched a ride on Voyagers 1 and 2. This 12-inch gold-plated copper record, covered in mathematical instructions for use, held Earthy greetings: sounds from nature, music from the bagpipes to Bach to Chuck Berry to Navajo chants, and spoken greetings in 55 languages. NASA has even commissioned engravings on its red planet rovers in case of a chance meeting with actual Martians.
Europa Clipper now travels across our solar system offering a special cosmic handshake. Aboard the robotic research spacecraft is an expression of the best of humankind— and who among us but the designers, poets, artists, and writers are best suited to translate us?
Europa Clipper’s vault (the vessel’s electronic “brain”) is clad in a triangular tantalum panel 1mm thick and only seven by 11 inches thick. The panel is designed to protect its precious cargo from harmful radiation and also features an artistic homage to life-giving water.
“Water Words,” the concept for the outer facing panel, was the brainchild of Dan Goods and Preston Dyches. Debbie Millman composed its design, representing audio recordings of ‘water’ in 103 languages, then engraved on the plate as soundwaves. A circular symbol at the center representing American Sign Language came to life through a technique known as Fourier transform. Debbie collaborated with linguistics researchers Dr. Sheri Wells-Jensen, Dr. Laura Buszard-Welcher, and interstellar message researcher Dr. Doug Vakoch of METI International on the project.
I am so thrilled to share my small part in this epic journey, which was one of the most thrilling experiences of my entire life.
Debbie Millman
The panel’s inward-facing side features an original poem entitled “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa” by Ada Limon, etched in the US Poet Laureate’s handwriting.
Directly above Limon’s poem is a microchip with the names of 2.6 million people along for the journey in a drawing of Jupiter and its four largest moons (Galilean satellites). But we’ve only scratched the surface of what’s expressed on the vault panel. Go down the rabbit hole on NASA’s website for more.
I am a proud space nerd. Like many of you, it does my psyche good to be in awe, witness the immensity and logic of the universe, and feel small and insignificant in a profound way. Last week, I saw the Northern Lights display in Colorado completely by accident—reader, I cried. Setting aside my feelings about Elon Musk—hell, I got goosebumps watching those mechanical arms catch a booster (yes, CATCH!) post-satellite launch just this week.
Human’s sheer willingness to continue to reach out across the stars is a reminder that, despite our terrestrial mess, we are still capable of wonder.
In the words of PRINT’s very own Debbie Millman, “Fly safe, Europa Clipper!”
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