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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Science
Kevin Anderson

Messages to Mars

The Planetary Society's Phoenix DVD on Mars, Credit: NASA / JPL / U. Arizona / Color composite by Emily Lakdawalla

It brings a whole new meaning to in-flight entertainment. The Planetary Society sent up a special DVD with the Phoenix lander with "personal messages from visionaries of our own time to future visitors or settlers on Mars". You can see the disc on the lander by the US flag.

The Visions of Mars DVD isn't your ordinary DVD. It is made of a special silica glass designed to last hundreds if not thousands of years into the future, the Society says. In addition to messages from Carl Sagan and Arthur C. Clarke, the DVD also contains books and audio that shaped people's views of Mars, including the 1938 Orson Welles' radio broadcast of War of the Worlds. I'm not sure that will make future settlers feel all that settled.

UPDATE: Jesse Willis at the blog SFFAudio has pulled together some of the audio on the disc.

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