November 4th, 2009 at 1:08AM
“Electroplated onto the record’s cover is an ultra-pure source of uranium-238 with a radioactivity of about 0.00026 microcuries. The steady decay of the uranium source into its daughter isotopes makes it a kind of radioactive clock. Half of the uranium-238 will decay in 4.51 billion years. Thus, by examining this two-centimeter diameter area on the record plate and measuring the amount of daughter elements to the remaining uranium-238, an extraterrestrial recipient of the Voyager spacecraft could calculate the time elapsed since a spot of uranium was placed aboard the spacecraft. This should be a check on the epoch of launch, which is also described by the pulsar map on the record cover.” (via voyager.jpl.nasa.gov) What a hopeful, peculiar note-in-a-bottle.

“Electroplated onto the record’s cover is an ultra-pure source of uranium-238 with a radioactivity of about 0.00026 microcuries. The steady decay of the uranium source into its daughter isotopes makes it a kind of radioactive clock. Half of the uranium-238 will decay in 4.51 billion years. Thus, by examining this two-centimeter diameter area on the record plate and measuring the amount of daughter elements to the remaining uranium-238, an extraterrestrial recipient of the Voyager spacecraft could calculate the time elapsed since a spot of uranium was placed aboard the spacecraft. This should be a check on the epoch of launch, which is also described by the pulsar map on the record cover.”

(via voyager.jpl.nasa.gov)

What a hopeful, peculiar note-in-a-bottle.

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    That’s no Electroplated uranium clock…….
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    Electroplated onto the record’s cover is an ultra-pure source of uranium-238 with a radioactivity of about 0.00026...
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    “Electroplated onto the record’s cover is an ultra-pure source of uranium-238 with a radioactivity of about 0.00026...
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135 notes Source: voyager.jpl.nasa.gov
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