The last signal from the Pioneer 10 spacecraft was received on January 22, 2003; NASA reported that the power source had depleted. Although the spacecraft can no longer speak to us, it presses onward—it now speaks for us. As interstellar courier, it bears the accumulated voice of every human, transcribed in, perhaps, the only common language in all the cosmos. We are but cosmic toddlers just learning how to take our first steps into space, and just learning how to speak to the universe.

Since Pioneer 10 was directed neither to an exoplanet nor a star, contact is extremely unlikely. But if, by the merest happenstance, the spacecraft is intercepted by an alien species, there is at least a chance that the species can interpret our message. In all likelihood however, Pioneer 10 and its plaque will be lost in the immense tranquility of empty space. But in no case was our attempt for naught. Pioneer 10 remains more than just a ghost of a ship, and the plaque is more than a shout into the void. The message we sent to the universe still echoes in our ears. Born from such a mission—one that spans space, time, and perhaps, civilizations—is a new mindset, an otherworldly perspective.

From the vantage of a distant world, our sun will be just another star, and our planet hidden in the radiance of the stellar glow. On such a world—one so distant and different from our own—we have not the slightest indication of what life will be like, how it began, how it evolved. If beings were to emerge, we know not their anatomy nor biology nor psychology, their physical traits, their sensory capabilities, their intellectual sophistication, their disposition; more or less, we are blind to every aspect of their species. They could be different in every way—in ways we have yet to understand or could even imagine. We make numerous assumptions about what life is and what life is not—educated guesses based off a sample size of one. But if, in some form or another, advanced consciousness arises elsewhere in the cosmos, it is possible that those beings will wonder, as we did: What are the lights in the sky? Where did the planets come from? What else is out there? Who else is out there? They may compile a system of knowledge of the cosmos and the laws that govern it; we call this “science.” About this hypothetical species, we know but one thing: the science they develop—the natural laws they discover—if they were to do so, would be exactly the same as our own.

Although not every human conducts science, it is conducted for every human. Science speaks to all of us in a way nothing ever has. It sparks new ideas and alternate perspectives. It brings each of us together and all of us forward. It is, at the very least, an international language, because there is an implied assertion with every question: there is something we do not know; and with our missions, we learn together. We probe the unknown looking for answers, venturing to understand the universe as it is—not the way we want it or believe it to be. Every step of the way, we strive not to fit the universe to the limits of our minds, but stretch our minds to the limitlessness of the universe.

Epilogue

For every great scientific discovery and technological advancement, there was a time before, when the universe was a little less known. The significance and brilliance of our technologies and the science that drives them is too often overlooked. We forget the time before—a time without cell phones and personal computers, automobiles and airplanes—during which we wondered what it would be like to communicate at the speed of light and fly around to the other side of the planet in a matter of hours. Right now, at this time, we wonder what it would be like to find life elsewhere in the cosmos and to make first contact. This is the time before that great discovery, and there will be a time after. Maybe in the near future, or maybe a more distant one, it will be commonplace to carry on conversations with extraterrestrials; and again, we will forget how, right now, we are ceaselessly wondering, in endless search for an answer.

Sources:

A Message from Earth, by Carl Sagan, Linda Salzman Sagan, and Frank Drake

The Cosmic Connection, by Carl Sagan

PIONEER 10 SPACECRAFT SENDS LAST SIGNAL, by Michael Mewhinney