The Voyager 1 Golden Record is prepared for installation on the spacecraft in this archival image from 1977. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21741

This image highlights the special cargo onboard NASA Voyager spacecraft: the Golden Record. Each of the two Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977 carry a 12-inch gold-plated phonograph record with images and sounds from Earth.

Engineers secure the cover over the Voyager 1 Golden Record in this archival image from 1977. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21740

NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft will carry a special message when it launches in October 2024 and heads toward Jupiter's moon Europa. The moon shows strong evidence of an ocean under its icy crust, with more than twice the amount of water of all of Earth's oceans combined. A triangular metal plate, seen here, will honor that connection to Earth. The plate is made of tantalum metal and is about 7 by 11 inches (18 by 28 centimeters). Engraved on both sides, it seals an opening in the electronics vault, which houses the spacecraft's sensitive electronics. The side shown here features U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón's handwritten "In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa," and will be affixed with a silicon microchip stenciled with more than 2.6 million names submitted by the public. The microchip will be placed at the center of the illustration of a bottle amid the Jovian system – a reference to NASA's "Message in a Bottle" campaign, which invited the public to send their names with the spacecraft. The artwork includes the Drake Equation, which was formulated by astronomer Frank Drake in 1961 to estimate the possibility of finding advanced civilizations beyond Earth. Also featured is a reference to the radio frequencies considered plausible for interstellar communication, symbolizing how humanity uses this radio band to listen for messages from the cosmos. These particular frequencies match the radio waves emitted in space by the components of water and are known by astronomers as the "water hole." On the plate, they are depicted as radio emission lines. The plate includes a portrait of one of the founders of planetary science, Ron Greeley, whose early efforts to develop a Europa mission two decades ago laid the foundation for Europa Clipper. In the spirit of the Voyager spacecraft's Golden Record, which carries sounds and images to convey the richness and diversity of life on Earth, the layered message on Europa Clipper aims to spark the imagination and offer a unifying vision. Europa Clipper, set to launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, will arrive at the Jupiter system in 2030 and conduct about 50 flybys of the moon Europa. The mission's main science goal is to determine whether there are places below Europa, that could support life. The mission's three main science objectives are to determine the thickness of the moon's icy shell and its surface interactions with the ocean below, to investigate its composition, and to characterize its geology. The mission's detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26062

As NASA two Voyager spacecraft travel out into deep space, they carry a small American flag and a Golden Record packed with pictures and sounds -- mementos of our home planet.

Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager, NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) holds a replica of the golden record carried on Voyager at a news conference on NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2013 at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The Golden Record was intended to communicate a story of our world to extraterrestrials. NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft officially is the first human-made object to venture into interstellar space. The 36-year-old probe is about 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometers) from our sun. New and unexpected data indicate Voyager 1 has been traveling for about one year through plasma, or ionized gas, present in the space between stars. A report on the analysis of this new data is published in Thursday's edition of the journal Science. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Ann Druyan, writer/producer and golden record visionary, speaks at an event to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the launch of the Voyager 1 and 2 missions, Tuesday, September 5, 2017 at Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington. Voyager 1 was launched September 5, 1977, with a mission to study Jupiter and Saturn, but now the twin Voyager spacecrafts are on a journey into interstellar space to search for the heliopause, a region never reached by any other spacecraft. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey

Ann Druyan, writer/producer and golden record visionary, speaks at an event to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the launch of the Voyager 1 and 2 missions, Tuesday, September 5, 2017 at Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington. Voyager 1 was launched September 5, 1977, with a mission to study Jupiter and Saturn, but now the twin Voyager spacecrafts are on a journey into interstellar space to search for the heliopause, a region never reached by any other spacecraft. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey

Ann Druyan, writer/producer and golden record visionary, speaks at an event to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the launch of the Voyager 1 and 2 missions, Tuesday, September 5, 2017 at Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington. Voyager 1 was launched September 5, 1977, with a mission to study Jupiter and Saturn, but now the twin Voyager spacecrafts are on a journey into interstellar space to search for the heliopause, a region never reached by any other spacecraft. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey

Ann Druyan, writer/producer and golden record visionary, speaks on a panel at an event to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the launch of the Voyager 1 and 2 missions, Tuesday, September 5, 2017 at National Geographic Society Headquarters in Washington. Voyager 1 was launched September 5, 1977, with a mission to study Jupiter and Saturn, but now the twin Voyager spacecrafts are on a journey into interstellar space to search for the heliopause, a region never reached by any other spacecraft. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Ann Druyan, writer/producer and golden record visionary, speaks about the last image of Earth from the Voyager spacecraft, at an event to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the launch of the Voyager 1 and 2 missions, Tuesday, September 5, 2017 at Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington. Voyager 1 was launched September 5, 1977, with a mission to study Jupiter and Saturn, but now the twin Voyager spacecrafts are on a journey into interstellar space to search for the heliopause, a region never reached by any other spacecraft. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey

Ann Druyan, writer/producer and golden record visionary, speaks on a panel with moderator Victoria Jaggard, National Geographic Magazine science editor, left, Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, right; and Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist, not pictured, at an event to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the launch of the Voyager 1 and 2 missions, Tuesday, September 5, 2017 at National Geographic Society Headquarters in Washington. Voyager 1 was launched September 5, 1977, with a mission to study Jupiter and Saturn, but now the twin Voyager spacecrafts are on a journey into interstellar space to search for the heliopause, a region never reached by any other spacecraft. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Matthew Shindell, curator, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM), far left, moderates a panel including, from left to right, Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist; Gary Flandro, Voyager mission grand tour creator; Alan Cummings, Voyager researcher; Suzy Dodd, Voyager project manager, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory; and Ann Druyan, writer/producer, Golden Record Visionary during a celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the launch of the Voyager 1 and 2 missions, Tuesday, September 5, 2017 at NASM in Washington. Voyager 1 was launched September 5, 1977, with a mission to study Jupiter and Saturn, but now the twin Voyager spacecrafts are on a journey into interstellar space to search for the heliopause, a region never reached by any other spacecraft. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Panelists, from left to right, Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist; Victoria Jaggard, National Geographic Magazine science editor and moderator for the panel; Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate; and Ann Druyan, writer/producer and golden record visionary, visit in the green room before speaking at an event to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the launch of the Voyager 1 and 2 missions, Tuesday, September 5, 2017 at National Geographic Society Headquarters in Washington. Voyager 1 was launched September 5, 1977, with a mission to study Jupiter and Saturn, but now the twin Voyager spacecrafts are on a journey into interstellar space to search for the heliopause, a region never reached by any other spacecraft. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Victoria Jaggard, National Geographic Magazine science editor, left, moderates a panel discussion with, Ann Druyan, writer/producer and golden record visionary, second from left; Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, second from right; and Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist, right, at an event to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the launch of the Voyager 1 and 2 missions, Tuesday, September 5, 2017 at National Geographic Society Headquarters in Washington. Voyager 1 was launched September 5, 1977, with a mission to study Jupiter and Saturn, but now the twin Voyager spacecrafts are on a journey into interstellar space to search for the heliopause, a region never reached by any other spacecraft. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

Matthew Shindell, curator, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM), far left, moderates a panel including, from left to right, Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist; Gary Flandro, Voyager mission grand tour creator; Alan Cummings, Voyager researcher; Suzy Dodd, Voyager project manager, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory; and Ann Druyan, writer/producer, Golden Record Visionary during a celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the launch of the Voyager 1 and 2 missions, Tuesday, September 5, 2017 at NASM in Washington. Voyager 1 was launched September 5, 1977, with a mission to study Jupiter and Saturn, but now the twin Voyager spacecrafts are on a journey into interstellar space to search for the heliopause, a region never reached by any other spacecraft. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

The primary calibration target for Mastcam-Z, a pair of zoomable cameras aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover, features color swatches used by scientists to fine-tune the cameras' settings. The object in the center, known as a shadow post, helps scientists check the color of the sky to calibrate for lighting conditions. Symbols and mottos relevant to the mission are included around the target's perimeter: (clockwise from top) a fern; an Apatosaurus; a man and woman raising their hands in greeting (a nod to plaques carried aboard Pioneer 10 and 11, as well as the Golden Record aboard Voyagers 1 and 2); a rocket traveling from Earth (blue dot) to Mars (red dot); a motto reading "Two Worlds, One Beginning," in reference to the idea of Earth and the Red Planet growing out of the same proto-stellar dust; a model of the inner solar system; a DNA helix; and cyanobacteria, one of the earliest forms of life on Earth. A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust). https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24178

NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft will carry a special message when it launches in October 2024 and heads toward Jupiter's moon Europa. The moon shows strong evidence of an ocean under its icy crust, with more than twice the amount of water of all of Earth's oceans combined. A triangular metal plate, seen here, will honor that connection to Earth. The plate is made of tantalum metal and is about 7 by 11 inches (18 by 28 centimeters). It is engraved on both sides and seals an opening in the electronics vault, which houses the spacecraft's sensitive electronics. The art on this side of the plate features waveforms that are visual representations of the sound waves formed by the word "water" in 103 languages. The waveforms radiate out from a symbol representing the American Sign Language sign for "water." In the spirit of the Voyager spacecraft's Golden Record, which carries sounds and images to convey the richness and diversity of life on Earth, the layered message on Europa Clipper aims to spark the imagination and offer a unifying vision. Europa Clipper, set to launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, will arrive at the Jupiter system in 2030 and conduct about 50 flybys of the moon Europa. The mission's main science goal is to determine whether there are places below Europa, that could support life. The mission's three main science objectives are to determine the thickness of the moon's icy shell and its surface interactions with the ocean below, to investigate its composition, and to characterize its geology. The mission's detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26063