Carl Sagan (1934–1996) was an American astronomer, astrobiologist, and author. Sagan worked with NASA since its founding in 1958 as a consultant. In his first job he was involved in planning the explosion of an atomic bomb on the moon, the A119 project. In 1961, at the age of 27, he published a study on the atmosphere of Venus. During the early 1970s, talk shows invited him as a popular guest to discuss the possibility of extraterrestrial life. In 1970 he researched the conditions that could lead to the emergence of life in the cosmos on distant planets. To achieve this, he exposed frequently occurring elements to the UV radiation of a young sun and observed how amino acids, the building blocks of life, were formed from them.
“Hello, Aliens!”: Pioneer Probes Get Sagan’s First Broadcast
In 1972 and 1977, Carl Sagan sent the first messages to extraterrestrials into space on the panels of the space probes Pioneer 10 & 11 and the Golden Record of Voyager 1 & 2.
It contains greetings and wishes for peace from the people of Earth in 55 languages. Earthlings extend their friendship, wish happiness and health, and express hope to one day meet their cosmic neighbors. They also express the desire for goodwill and harmony among all beings in the universe.
The greetings are in alphabetical order, from Akkadian (an extinct language for over 2000 years) to Wu Chinese. The inclusion of Akkadian in this Earthly record is inexplicable. An alien civilization may one day intercept these messages as they travel through space.
With the help of the included pulsar map, aliens could potentially find Earth. Pulsars are stars that rhythmically emit radiation, like interstellar lighthouses. We can use them as a cosmic GPS.
Pulsar GPS: Sagan’s Star-Beacon Timecode Reveals 1971 Earth
Over long periods of time, the frequency of a pulsar slows down. Thus the pulsar map designed by scientist Frank Drake and graphic artist Linda Salzman Sagan is not only a determination of the position of our Earth in space, but the map also precisely pinpoints the position of Earth in time: 1971.
What if a prospective alien civilization has or develops the ability to time travel? What would they do with the information provided by our space probes?
Speculation about this makes for the greatest Sci-Fi story ever told. This is particularly true when considering the Akkadian language greeting and Annunaki creation myths, some of which have been popularized by Zecharia Sitchin and others.
Of course, intercepting our space probes is extremely unlikely. It could take millions of years, if at all. But then again, the life expectancy of the Golden Records is 5 billion years.
“Extraordinary?” Sagan’s 1977 Standard Stuns UFO Dreamers
In 1977, when the film “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” was released, Washington Post readers first heard of the “Sagan Standard”: that “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.“
Carl Sagan uttered this aphorism in relation to the first film scene, when planes were found in the Sahara, which years earlier disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle:
“There is no evidence that lights in the sky or the disappearance of ships or planes are due to extraterrestrial interference (in the Bermuda Triangle).”
Bermuda Triangle Bombshell: Planes, Submarines & Atomic Mystery
Bermuda Triangle, 1986:
In the shadowy depths of the North Atlantic, the Russian nuclear submarine K-219 vanished beneath the waves, leaving a chilling mystery in its wake. As the vessel settled silently on the ocean floor—nearly 18,000 feet (5.5 kilometers) below the surface—a more disturbing discovery emerged: the submarine’s full arsenal of nuclear warheads had inexplicably disappeared.
Any attempt to retrieve or remove the warheads should have been impossible at such an unfathomable depth, beyond the reach of all human technology in 1986. Yet, the weapons had vanished nonetheless, leaving behind only unanswered questions and a silence as deep as the ocean itself.
Official records claim that the catastrophic incident aboard K-219 took place hundreds of miles from the Hatteras Abyssal Plain—the very spot where the lost submarine ultimately came to rest (Wikipedia).
Yet this contradiction is curious, to say the least.
Deep-Sea Riddle: Vanished Russian Nukes Hide Under Triangle
Consult the Marine Gazetteer Map, and you’ll notice a small dot nestled between Miami and Bermuda: the location of the Hatteras Abyssal Plain. In other words, inside the notorious Bermuda Triangle.
Science moves forward through doubt, evidence, and the enduring patience to pursue both. But in a case like this, one cannot help but wonder what secrets still lie hidden beneath those mysterious waters.
Cosmos Mania: Sagan Turns the Universe into Prime-Time TV
In 1980 the name Sagan finally became a household name when Carl presented his extraordinarily successful TV series “Cosmos.”
The series covered topics ranging from the origin of life to a perspective of our place in the universe.
The Sagan Standard, first phrased in the Washington Post article from December 1977, that “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,” became the mantra of the series. Carl claimed that nearly every UFO sighting is based on optical illusions and misinterpretations.
Carl Sagan wrote regarding UFO claims:
“When confronted with a claim for which there is no compelling evidence, we should reserve judgment. I know of no evidence for visits to Earth by beings from other worlds.”
- – Carl Sagan
UFO Smackdown: “Show Me the Proof,” Says Science Superstar
Rather than treating UFO research as a rigorous scientific inquiry into possibly extraterrestrial phenomena, Sagan rejected its validity on the grounds that it lacked the ‘extraordinary’ evidence required by the scientific method and rested largely on unreliable eyewitness testimony.
Radio Roulette: SETI’s Slow-Motion Search for Martian Pen Pals
Instead, he argued, the most promising avenue for detecting alien life was the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) via radio astronomy—a point he dramatized in his 1985 novel Contact. Of course, SETI carries its own fundamental limitation: because radio signals travel at light speed, any interstellar message exchange is subject to potentially very long delays.
Meaningful two-way communication would require centuries, ruling it out for spontaneous chats.
The shooting of “Contact” started in September 1996. Sagan himself was supposed to appear in a cameo, but he passed away 2 months after the shooting began. Sagan had been working on this project since 1979.
