A Faces from Earth campaign to introduce the concept of possible extraterrestrial life, interstellar messages and the importance of the Voyager missions to school students."Faces from Earth is paying tribute to the Voyager missions and the grand concepts embodied by them and all those who made it possible. For in a very real sense the space probes became reality by a collective effort of our civilization, both directly and indirectly. The Voyagers gave us our first real taste, both through their journeys past immense and amazing alien worlds as never witnessed before and the messages and information they carry in those small golden discs on their sides, of what the Cosmos is really like and how we in turn appear in relation to all that vastness of space and time.
Faces from Earth is keeping alive those representation and messages for the current and future generations of humanity, for we are even now becoming Citizens of the Galaxy, no longer confined to the savannahs or villages or even this single planet. While we are still very much the biological creatures of our distant ancestors, we now have an awareness and abilities they never dreamed of. We must mature into the species we are moving towards, one which embodies and embraces new worlds and new ways of life scarcely imaged in the past or even now. Faces from Earth will work together with all those who share the dream of being part of a humanity achieving its full potential among the stars."
- from: The Enduring Legacy of the Voyagers – by Larry Klaes, our Lead Journalist
The campaign shall introduce the following questions to students:
- what if there is extraterrestrial life out there?
- what would we say to a hypothetical E.T.?
- what would you have included in the Voyager Golden Record?
This is the second campaign of the series and it will run as a tribute to Voyager missions on their 33rd launch anniversary – Voyager 1 - 5 September 1977 and Voyager 2 - 20 August 1977. The campaign will focus on our past space probe messages – the Pioneer Plaque and the Voyager Golden Record -, radio transmissions (Arecibo Message, Cosmic Calls, Teen Age Message, ...). The same time we introduce our project Faces from Earth.
Thinking about these questions naturally leads to considering topics like sensitive communication, self-reflection, responsible preparation and handling of encounters of any kind, including here on Earth both by adults and students. Immediate earthly benefits include more openness for understanding other cultures, enhanced sensitivity for tolerance in encounters and appreciation of long term thinking, to name but a few.
Events will be conducted on several places in the world. Photos and videos shall document the events, from which a mix will be created and presented in the internet.
How to participate:
In an informal meeting, the local responsible person/group tells the students/members about the possibility of extraterrestrial life – which might become even intelligent. The question will then be raised, if we were to design a message to put in a future mission, what would we say?
A short summary of the already sent messages will be given, with special emphasis on the Voyager missions and the Voyager Golden Records. Then the students can discuss and express their thoughts. They will be asked to make drawings/paintings about their message (max. one page each student).
At the end of the activity you can do a symbolic release of the “constructed message” - which is all of the paintings the students made. This can be done in a way best appropriate for the local circumstances, adapted to the available resources and possibilities. Some suggestions are here, but the local organizers are welcome to be creative!
- The participants form a ring and simply throw upwards their paintings (they can even make a paper plane from them).
- The paintings will be attached to helium-filled latex balloons and released.
- You can fly (Dragon) kites, paperwork attached to the line
- Model rockets can be started as well; in this case the best way of the “payload attachment” should be decided locally.
- Your creative idea … :-)
Timing - Note: campaign now ends 4 weeks later!
Start: 5 September 2010 - the 33rd anniversary of the launch of Voyager 1
End: 24 October 2010
Deadline to submit your event reports: 31 October 2010
Uploaded material will be processed and several deliverables produced (image galleries, video mix. etc)
What should you do at your location?
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Choose appropriate location and event time
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Tell us about your planned event: country, location, date, expected number of participants. Please just drop a mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or make a post on our Facebook event's wall: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=150844458259399
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Prepare your presentation / talk
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Ensure that drawing paper (suggested format: A4 or letter), pencils, balloons (you will need 11" ones to lift A4 80g paper), helium, model rockets, kites, rolls – depending on your “message release” choice, of course - photo and video camera, person assessed to help to make the photo/video documentary, Faces from Earth and the campaign logos printed out, etc. are there. You can download the logos from here:
http://faces-from-earth.net/images/Other/starchild_logo.png
http://faces-from-earth.net/images/Other/ffe_voyager_campaign_print_rgb.jpg
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Please document Your event with photos, every phase; if possible, take videos at least of the final message release part.
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Send us the photos/video(s) you took at your event. We shall provide the local organizers with an ftp access to our server, just ask for the connection if you are ready with your stuff. Video formats should be mp4 (preferred) or avi; photos jpg (preferred) or other common image formats.
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Ensure that Faces from Earth is allowed to use the photos/videos on the net (you might need a signed agreement from the parents)
For further details download the pdf file: ET_are_You_out_there_Voyager.pdf 
Collaborations:
Mission of OFiS is to promote the use of the “Blue Marble” as a symbol of world unity in space exploration. It is a symbol that anyone, anywhere in the world can relate to, regardless of nationality, ethnic origin or religious beliefs, yet does not require political collaboration between space-faring nations.
As a collaborator for the 2nd Faces from Earth campaign, OFiS encourage all the participating groups to use the "Blue Marble" flag to show the world unity.
Further inquires:
Thilina Heenatigala
Head of International Networking and EPO
Faces from Earth
e: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
w: http://www.faces-from-earth.net/
p: +94 716 245 545
