Storms, frogs and a kiss: how a group of scientists designed a message from humanity to aliens

When Voyager 1 and 2 head beyond communication range, Ceridwen Dovey writes, that is when their true mission begins – to ferry the Golden Record to intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. Illustration: Nasa/AP

Space objects embody all kinds of contradictions. They’re closely tied to us as our proxies in space, and the people who make or launch them often imprint or project their own emotions and beliefs on to these objects. Yet they no longer remain fully obedient to us, scientifically or symbolically, the further away they get.

Over the past few years I’ve been reading everything I can find about certain objects that humans have launched into outer space. My project was a little wacky: to write fictional stories from the point of view of space objects themselves, whether Starman in his midnight-cherry Roadster, or the International Space Station.