I’m constantly surprised by how often you can find a pulp connection in the oddest places.
On Sunday, May 25, the Phoenix lander will (hopefully) touchdown near the north pole of Mars. In addition to the requisite scientific gadgets, onboard will be an archival mini-DVD put together by the Planetary Society. It’s made of silica glass and, as the society’s Web site says, the Phoenix DVD is “designed to last hundreds if not thousands of years into the future.”
Contained within the disc are video messages from a variety of notables including Carl Sagan and Arthur C. Clarke. There also are samples of how popular culture has depicted the Red Planet, including collections of vintage radio shows, Mars artwork and stories.
The pulp magazines played a significant role in the development of science fiction (in fact, the term was coined in them). Naturally, the pulps are well represented on the DVD.
In the artwork and stories categories, you’ll see numerous names that you’ll recognize from the pulps, including fictioneers Leigh Brackett, August Derleth, C.L. Moore, Otis Adelbert Kline, Theodore Sturgeon and Jack Williamson, and artists Frank R. Paul and Ed Emshwiller. (Oh, and one of this year’s PulpCon guests of honor, Larry Niven.)
Among the specific works included on the DVD are:
• Allen Anderson’s illustration for Leigh Brackett’s Queen of the Martian Catacombs, which appeared in the Summer 1949 number of Planet Stories.
• Kelly Freas’s cover from the September 1954 number of Astounding Science Fiction illustrating Fredric Brown’s Martians, Go Home! and featuring the quintessential little green man (above, left).
• Fredric Brown’s story The Last Martian, which appeared in Galaxy in October 1950.
• An excerpt of A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
One thing’s for certain: If the spacecraft lands safely, the Phoenix DVD will last a lot longer than the crumbling, yellowed pages honored on it.
– William
Update: The Phoenix craft, with the DVD, landed safely on Mars.
So, they’re hoping that Martians at the north pole will have DVD players? Or is this essentialy a time capsule?
Sounds like the DVD isn’t for the true Martians, but for naturalized Martians. Hopefully they will bring along their own DVD players (assuming the data format survives that long).
To quote from the Phoenix DVD Web site: