What The IF you were about to have a meeting with Aliens and you wanted to made a good FIRST IMPRESSION? Carl Sagan and his colleagues took up this very challenge when crafting the “messages in a bottle” that they attached to the Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft. (Spoiler: no bottles, but plaques and record suitable for playing by alien DJ’s!).

The brilliant BLAKE LEWIN joins us to talk about his amazing experiences working with Sagan on creating a version of the Voyager record for us Earthlings, and his further adventures in producing the creation of the DVD for the Mars Phoenix lander. Wonderful, colorful stories of space archaeology in the making, and pro tips for all of us on how to make our own!

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Got an IF of your own? Want to have us consider your idea for a show topic? Send YOUR IF to us! Email us at [email protected] and let us know what's in your imagination. No idea is too small, or too big!

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Special thanks to Illia Zheng and Howard Zheng for their help with the show.

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Keep On IFFin',

Philip & Matt