What is the name of the gold-plated record on each Voyager?

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The gold-plated record on each Voyager spacecraft is called the Voyager Golden Record.

NASA placed one identical record aboard Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 as a message for any distant intelligent life that might discover the probes. The project was chaired by astronomer Carl Sagan, who worked with a team to assemble sounds, images, music, and greetings representing Earth and human culture.

The record is a 12-inch copper disk plated with gold. Its contents include 116 images, natural sounds such as thunder and animal calls, spoken greetings in 55 languages, and music from several cultures and historical periods. Diagrams on the cover explain how to play the record and interpret its images.

It is often described as a time capsule, but that is a general description rather than its official name. The Pioneer Plaque is a different artifact: it was attached to Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 and carried a concise engraved message instead of a phonograph record.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Aug. 2026

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