The US National Aerospace Agency (NASA) has revealed the design of a metal plaque that will be mounted on board the Europa Clipper spacecraft heading to Jupiter's moon Europa. Snob.ru reports this.
The size of the plate is 18 by 28 centimeters. Its exterior is engraved with sound waves that convey the pronunciation of the word “water” in 103 Earth languages, highlighting the mission's goal of searching for a giant ocean beneath Europa's icy crust. The recordings are available on the NASA website.
The inside of the plaque contains the poem “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europe” by poet Ada Limón, a portrait of Ronald Greeley, one of the founders of planetary science, and the Drake Equation, a formula for counting the number of extraterrestrial civilizations.
An important part of the plaque is a hidden microchip with 2,6 million names left on NASA's website within the framework of the “Message in a Bottle” campaign. The image in the center of four rings, symbolizing the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, also refers to the name of the project.
Europa Clipper is scheduled to launch on October 10, 2024. The device will cover 2,6 billion kilometers and reach Europe in 2030. The purpose of the mission is to search for the hidden ocean and study Europa's ability to support life.