The last remnant of human kind

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The probe's runaway speed essentially buys it immortality. New Horizons will drift among the stars forever. It seems pretty unlikely any aliens could find these interstellar notes-in-bottles, but who can imagine the capabilities of an advanced extraterrestrial civilization? These plucky robots are monuments to our curiosity that will vastly outlast the Egyptian pyramids. They will be the last surviving artifacts of an inquisitive bipedal race called Homo sapiens that once lived in the galaxy's Orion spur.

This quote from the article really struck me as inspirational and awe inspiring. To think that we created something that would roam the universe forever - human kind's last remnant.

[edit on 31-12-2009 by genma]

[edit on 31-12-2009 by genma]

reply to post by genma


It is a good idea but sad humanity has been knocked down so much mentally that they feel they must put things into space in order to be remembered. Humans will never be forgotton as angels never were forgotton. WE ARE CREATED BY A GOD THAT IS ETERNAL MAKING US ETERNAL CREATIONS REMEMBER -BRIGHTEN UP- ITS ONLY ABOUT TO BEGIN!

Don't forget, Voyagers 1 and 2. They also left the solar system, and should be at least 90 AU away by now. The truth is, they would never really last forever; they would probably be captured by a star's gravity at some point, and be forced into an elliptical orbit or right into the star itself. And even if it manages to escape that, radioactive decay would eventually take it's toll on the probe. All matter, including the metal the probes are made from, eventually dissipates atomically. The lighter elements do so at such a slow rate that it is impossible to detect with our strongest instruments. Nevertheless, after trillions, even quadrillions of years, the probes would be reduced to almost nothing.

this is a fairly large universe we are in with possible other dimensions involved.

it is quite possible it is true, we are but a part of "life" in it. intellegent or not, no matter.

for what we know we might be a foot note, in the local galactic who's who

and even, not get a mention in the big book of life.

so......

we get our poop in a pile and get out there and kick some butt!

whatever you believe, it is up to us to make our mark.

shall we go down as another dirtbag, wannabe race of playa's or what?

god gave us the tools to do anything.

i am on the fence.

[edit on 31-12-2009 by fooks]

reply to post by genma


I got shivers reading that quote
really speaks to you

That's sad and beautiful .
I only wonder why humans still think that it's the possibility of being found which is a major determining factor.

Any intelligent life out there would look at the junk pile from our planet floating around in our atmosphere made of old rockets and whatever and be disgusted by it.

As far as this being a "message in a bottle" I say ; good luck.
It's going to be perceived as something nasty that came floating out of that stinky and ridiculous planet called earth; stinky and nasty because its people don't take care of it.

They will then ZOOM in on the junk pile that floats in the Pacific Ocean and be like; so... why would we want to go there?

Message in a bottle.
This will look like a piece of s$#t floating out from our planet to anyone watching it

reply to post by Ophiuchus 13



Good advice. Humanity, according to God's promise, is forever. Now, that is not to say we're not goona get the provrbial boot in the ass, but, humanity isn't going anywhere.

S&F,

Like the pioneers and voyagers, new horizons will drift endlessly through the void, who knows? maybe a young race much like our selves will discover it in their system? could you imagine what kind of hope that would bring to them?

While unlikely, perhaps we will see a probe from another civilization that is either much more advanced now or extinct, wouldn't that be facinating? unfortunatly it would probably captured by the US and kept secret.

Originally posted by Xammu
...All matter, including the metal the probes are made from, eventually dissipates atomically. The lighter elements do so at such a slow rate that it is impossible to detect with our strongest instruments. Nevertheless, after trillions, even quadrillions of years, the probes would be reduced to almost nothing.

Well, I'll take billions of years. Heck, the whole universe is only 13 billion years old. If our space probes last even only 50 billion years, that's about 4 times the age of the universe today.

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


That's also assuming they don't get pummled by interstellar debris, there's bound to be a ton of that.

Surely something heading away from the planet would eventually collide with something else or just head into a star like already mentioned...