The Heartbeat at the Edge of the Solar System

Imagine falling madly, truly in love with one of the greatest humans who ever lived, while creating a complex message about what it is to be alive, a golden record affixed to the first interstellar spacecraft launched by our species, bound to sail the Milky Way galaxy long after Earth ceases to exist. These are the words of Ann Druyan, a young writer who recorded her heartbeat and brainwaves onto the Voyager Golden Record, a unique time capsule in the form of a vinyl record containing sounds and images representing humanity and life and culture on Earth, which was launched into space by NASA in 1977. Selected by a committee chaired by eminent scientist Carl Sagan, the record was intended for any alien life who might find it. Ann is the only woman to appear on the Golden Record and recorded the sounds of her heart and brain during an hour spent reflecting on the history of the Earth and on the experience of having just fallen in love – with Carl Sagan, whom she later married. In THE HEARTBEAT AT THE EDGE OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM, art historian Jennifer Roberts and artist Dario Robleto tell the epic and spellbinding stories of the scientists, artists and dreamers who launched it into the future, and its billion-year journey through the universe. With its mind-bending science, cosmic curiosity and human heart this book reminds us that we are a species that searches and seeks to be found. Is there any more human desire than to be seen and known and remembered? Ann’s heartbeat is an interstellar message about humanity, one that makes us ask what such a message, in the form of an impulse to connect with others, can tell us about ourselves.