2022 is set to be one of the biggest years yet for space exploration. 🚀
But how can you travel among the stars if you’re not an astronaut or a billionaire?
More importantly, how can you go if you’re not even an adult? 👦👧
Fun Kids radio station wanted to do something about this, so they used a special type of radio transmitter to stream hundreds of kids’ voices to the stars! ⭐️
The special radio programme was called ‘Mission Transmission’ and it achieved a Guinness World Records title as the first radio programme beamed into deep space, on 21 February 2022.
The broadcast was sent on a light wave that travels at the speed of light (299,792,458 metres per second).
It took only 1.3 seconds to reach the moon! 🌚
The radio broadcast contained messages to aliens from hundreds of kids around the world. It will stay audible for millions of years 🤯
It will take:
- 4.2 years to reach Proxima Centauri, our closest star excluding the Sun
- 2.5 million years to reach the next galaxy🤩
Did you know?
It takes an average of 8 minutes 20 seconds for sunlight to reach Earth. 🌞
This epic record took place at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, where Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is calculated from. 🕑
When the sun is at its highest point in the sky, it is exactly above the Prime Meridian line in Greenwich, meaning the time is exactly 12:00 GMT. ☀️
"Maybe someone many years from now will pick up our broadcast out in space and listen to our message all the way from another solar system!" said Emily Drabek-Maunder, an astronomer at the observatory.
Aliens might actually listen to our message and reply to us! 👽
"We're so delighted to be able to send hundreds of children's voices into space and to make history with our radio programme. – Adam Stoner
"Everyone who submitted something to us gets their name sent to space but only the very best got a seat aboard the radio rocket," Adam added. 🚀
The red button to launch the message was pressed by record-breaking astronaut Tim Peake. 🪐
Tim holds the record for the fastest time to complete a marathon in orbit - with a time of 3 hours 35 minutes 21 seconds running on a treadmill.
"When you think about aliens it seems very childish, doesn't it? But it's not. We are talking about one of the most fundamental questions in the world: is there life out there in the universe? And it's great to get young people thinking of that," he said.
Did you know?
The most distant object in the universe is a galaxy called GN-z11. It’s at least 13.4 billion years old and is around 32 billion light years away from Earth. 😵
But Guinness World Records’ Editor-in-chief Craig Glenday wasn’t only on-site to witness the launch. 🛸
During the event was revealed the new Guinness World Records 2023 book. Inside is a galaxy of new, wonderful records! 🌌
Together with the previous two editions (2021 and 2022), the three covers form a unique and record-breaking world. ✨
A universe that is as vast as the curiosity, creativity and fun encouraged by every edition of Guinness World Records.
Take the space quiz to see how much you know about our solar system and its planets 👽
