{"id":18823,"date":"2017-09-06T01:32:15","date_gmt":"2017-09-05T17:32:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/voyager-at-40-the-search-for-life-in-space-puts-big-question-on-the-big-screen\/"},"modified":"2017-09-06T01:32:15","modified_gmt":"2017-09-05T17:32:15","slug":"voyager-at-40-the-search-for-life-in-space-puts-big-question-on-the-big-screen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/voyager-at-40-the-search-for-life-in-space-puts-big-question-on-the-big-screen\/","title":{"rendered":"Voyager at 40: \u2018The Search for Life in Space\u2019 puts big question on the big screen"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_359405\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-359405\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-359405\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/170831-life-space-630x425.jpg\" alt=\"&quot;The Search for Life in Space&quot;\" width=\"630\" height=\"425\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/170831-life-space-630x425.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/170831-life-space-768x518.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/170831-life-space.jpg 872w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-359405\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u201cThe Search for Life In Space\u201d touches on several frontiers in astrobiology. (MacGillivray Freeman)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>What better way to celebrate 40 years of NASA\u2019s interplanetary Voyager mission than with an eye-filling movie that brings the decades-old story up to date?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Search for Life in Space,\u201d an IMAX 3-D documentary that opens at the Pacific Science Center today, begins with the twin Voyager probes\u2019 exploration of the solar system and beyond. Voyager\u2019s \u201cGrand Tour\u201d got off the ground in 1977 and continues to this day.<\/p>\n<p>The film touches on astronomer Carl Sagan\u2019s campaign to send a message to extraterrestrial civilizations that may someday come across the probe, in the form of a Golden Record that was launched aboard each of the two spacecraft.<\/p>\n<p>The Golden Record encoded&nbsp;audio files of greetings in 55 languages, plus images, sounds and music ranging from a portrait of a nursing mother, to&nbsp;cricket calls, to Chuck Berry\u2019s rock classic \u201cJohnny B. Goode.\u201d (Comedian Steve Martin joked that the aliens sent back a four-word message: \u201cSend More Chuck Berry.\u201d)<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"The Search for Life in Space - Official IMAX Trailer\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FF_vhYBlQNE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Scientific findings from Voyager and the interplanetary missions that followed have provided ample material for astrobiologists to work with:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Evidence of hidden salt-water oceans on Europa and Ganymede, two icy moons of Jupiter, thanks to Voyager and the Galileo probe.<\/li>\n<li>Signs of water-spewing geysers on Enceladus, one of Saturn\u2019s moons, thanks to the Voyager and Cassini missions.<\/li>\n<li>The discovery of rivers and lakes of liquid hydrocarbons on Saturn\u2019s smog-covered moon Titan, made by the Cassini orbiter and its piggyback&nbsp;Huygens lander.<\/li>\n<li>Hints of liquid water on Mars, thanks to NASA\u2019s Phoenix Mars Lander and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cThe Search for Life in Space\u201d covers all this and more&nbsp;\u2013 including the Kepler space telescope\u2019s discovery of thousands of exoplanets; the detection of an Earth-sized world&nbsp;at Proxima Centauri, the star that\u2019s nearest to our own solar system; and the revelation that tiny animals known as tardigrades or water bears can survive in the vacuum of outer space.<\/p>\n<p>But is the movie entertaining? Based on the reaction from our \u201cGeekWire at the Movies\u201d reviewers, the answer to the ultimate question is yes.<\/p>\n<p>Our lead reviewer is Henry Schlosser, a 10-year-old fifth-grader in Seattle (and the son of GeekWire\u2019s Kurt Schlosser). Here\u2019s an edited transcript of the discussion we had after an advance showing of \u201cThe Search for LIfe in Space.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_359838\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-359838\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-359838\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/170904-schlossers-630x473.jpg\" alt=\"Henry and Kurt Schlosser\" width=\"630\" height=\"473\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/170904-schlossers-630x473.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/170904-schlossers-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/170904-schlossers-1260x945.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/170904-schlossers.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-359838\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Henry Schlosser and his dad, GeekWire staff reporter Kurt Schosser, stand tall next to Seattle\u2019s Space Needle after catching an advance screening of \u201cThe Search for Life in Space.\u201d (GeekWire Photo \/ Kurt Schlosser)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Alan Boyle:<\/strong>&nbsp;Henry, I\u2019m anxious to hear what you thought of the movie. Was that all new stuff for you?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Henry Schosser:<\/strong>&nbsp;Not really. I heard some of that stuff before \u2013&nbsp;like about the new planets and what planets are covered in, and what their atmosphere is. And if there would be any life there. What that movie told me that I didn\u2019t know is, the places that living things would be most likely to live on.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kurt Schlosser:<\/strong> You mean the moons? Not necessarily planets, but moons?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Henry:<\/strong> Possibly the moons, yeah. \u2026 And probably Mars also.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Alan:<\/strong> Probably during your lifetime, someone\u2019s going to find life somewhere else in the universe, whether it\u2019s on Mars, or Enceladus, or someplace else.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Henry:<\/strong> I bet they\u2019ll find some kind of life somewhere in space.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kurt:<\/strong>&nbsp;Don\u2019t you think it\u2019ll just look like something we\u2019ve seen on Earth, like that water bear?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Henry:<\/strong>&nbsp;That thing that can live in space? That\u2019s so weird. I bet we would find something like that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kurt:<\/strong> I was intrigued by the fact that we still have to plumb the depths of this planet, looking for evidence of life in places where we didn\u2019t think there\u2019d be any \u2013 like the deepest depths of the ocean, or underground lava caves.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Henry:<\/strong>&nbsp;Yeah, i\u2019ve watched a lot of shows about life that\u2019s way underwater. Stuff that I haven\u2019t seen before, like these creatures that have a weird way of surviving in high pressure, with no sunlight.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Alan:<\/strong> When I was growing up, I don\u2019t think we knew there were moons in our own solar system that had hidden oceans beneath icy surfaces with more water than we have in Earth\u2019s oceans.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Henry:<\/strong> I didn\u2019t even know that there was a moon that had more water than all the water on Earth combined together. That\u2019s a lot of water, so just imagine how much water is on that moon. How much would that even be?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Alan:<\/strong> It\u2019s substantial, it\u2019s like a 60-mile-deep ocean on Europa, whereas Earth\u2019s oceans go no deeper than seven miles.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Henry:<\/strong> That\u2019s crazy!<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_359850\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-359850\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-359850 size-full-width\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/europa-630x1529.jpg\" alt=\"Europa vs. Earth\" width=\"630\" height=\"1529\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/europa-630x1529.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/europa-519x1260.jpg 519w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/europa.jpg 732w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-359850\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jupiter\u2019s moon Europa is thought to have twice as much water as Earth, which raises intriguing questions about life. Click on the image to see a larger version. (NASA \/ JPL Infographic)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Kurt:<\/strong>&nbsp;What would a life form do if it came across Carl Sagan\u2019s message in a bottle? How would it know to play the record?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Alan:<\/strong> I question whether they would know what to do with it. On the back of the Golden Record, the scientists engraved pictures that are supposed to explain how to play the record. They even have a needle attached to it. But I wonder whether an alien would just pick it up and take a bite out of it. Mmm, golden cookie!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kurt:<\/strong> Is sending some sort of message to aliens an idea that would even get off the ground in modern times?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Alan:<\/strong> Scientists are always trying to think about the best way to do it. In the movie \u201cContact,\u201d the aliens started out just by sending out a series of prime numbers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Henry:<\/strong> Just imagine finding something that could communicate properly. It might be like birds squawking at each other, or dogs barking. If something talked a kind of language, that would be crazy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Alan:<\/strong> There was this movie called \u201cArrival\u201d \u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Henry:<\/strong> Yeah, we watched that. It was really cool.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kurt:<\/strong> The main character had to learn the aliens\u2019 language. She should have been in this movie.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The 116 images NASA wants aliens to see\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NAN1kt4SG9E?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Alan:<\/strong> Henry, one thing I wonder about is that there are so many science fiction movies out there with aliens, like \u201cStar Wars.\u201d People are so used to aliens that I wonder if it would be a big deal. If people said, \u201cWow, we found some microbes on Mars,\u201d would some people say, \u201cBig deal \u2026 where\u2019s Chewbacca?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kurt:<\/strong> Do you have this expectation that some life form from a gazillion million miles away should look a certain way, or are you ready to be wowed by the tiniest speck?<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"callout clearfix\"><strong>More from Henry and Kurt:<\/strong><br \/>\nBoy meets artificial girl<\/h4>\n<p><strong>Henry:<\/strong> I\u2019d expect something tiny. Considering how many small things there are in the world, it\u2019s not hard to believe that\u2019s what we\u2019d find. I bet you\u2019d just find some kind of strange bacterium. Even if you find something that small, it would be extraordinary. It\u2019d be a big deal.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kurt:<\/strong> I want it to look like the things in \u201cAlien,\u201d or else keep looking.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Henry:<\/strong> That would be scary, though! It would be creepy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kurt:<\/strong> Hey, I didn\u2019t say bring it back here!<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThe Search for Life in Space\u201d opens tonight at the Pacific Science Center\u2019s Paccar IMAX Theater. Also today, NASA and the Smithsonian\u2019s National Air and Space Museum are celebrating the 40-year mark for the Voyager missions with a live-streamed presentation at 12:30 p.m. ET (9:30 a.m. PT). Speakers will include Voyager project scientist Ed Stone; Voyager project manager Suzanne Dodd; and Ann Druyan, creative director of the Voyager Interstellar Message. Watch the show on NASA TV. (The show is due to be re-streamed at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. PT today.)&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Today\u2019s observance marks the 40th anniversary of Voyager 1\u2019s launch on Sept. 5, 1977. Voyager 2 was actually launched a couple of weeks earlier, on Aug. 20, 1977. A crowdfunded project that\u2019s similar to the Voyager Interstellar Message, called the One Earth Message, is preparing a digital \u201cmessage in a bottle\u201d that\u2019s meant to be uploaded onto a memory chip on NASA\u2019s New Horizons spacecraft. Today at 4 p.m. ET (1 p.m. PT), the team behind the One Earth Message will talk about the project on Kickstarter Live.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThe Search for Life In Space\u201d touches on several frontiers in astrobiology. (MacGillivray Freeman) What better way to celebrate 40 years of NASA\u2019s interplanetary Voyager mission than with an eye-filling movie that brings the decades-old story up to date? \u201cThe Search for Life in Space,\u201d an IMAX 3-D documentary that opens at the Pacific Science [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4409,1874,4903,5333,4550,4918,3110],"class_list":["post-18823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-aliens","tag-astrobiology","tag-geekwire-at-the-movies","tag-imax","tag-movies","tag-pacific-science-center","tag-voyager"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18823"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18823\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}