The Hartelijke Groeten aan Iedereen golden record from the people of Belgium is now travelling through space on its eternal journey. If you want to track how far it has travelled at any time just go to the SentForever home page and enter this tracking code – SF59077054410D05 – in the “Track your message” box.

The golden record message containing a video of the life and success of the Belgian people was the end result of the Belgium TV Een series Hartelijke Groeten aan Iedereen. This radio message overtook the original golden records sent on the 1977 Voyager space probes after only 12 hours. This is because the SentForever radio transmissions travel at the speed of light which is about 671,000,000 miles per hour.

The Hartelijke Groeten aan Iedereen TV series (which means Warm Greetings from Everyone) ends with a deep space transmission by SentForever. It has been nominated for a Golden Rose at the prestigious Montreux Festival in the entertainment category. We wish all the Hartelijke Groeten aan Iedereen team success at the Festival in May this year.

A golden record from the people of Belgium was transmitted into deep space by SentForever this week. In the final episode of this six-week prime time TV Een series,Tom Waes concluded his global trip at Goonhilly in Cornwall, UK.

There he asked us if SentForever would transmit a golden record containing a video message showing the life and success of Belgian people into eternity. Tom had been round the world speaking with various people about sending an eternal message.

The original golden records were sent on the Voyager space probes in 1977 and the contents were compiled by Carl Sagan and his team. Tom Waes met with Carl’s wife and son to discuss the significance of the original Golden Record. He also met with Dr Jill Tarter from SETI, who is featured in the film Contact and is played by Jodie Foster.

In the series Tom Waes asks Jill Tarter if she can transmit his Golden Record, but she says “No” as SETI’s dishes are used to receive signals from space and not to transmit them. She does tell him she knows of places where signals can be transmitted from. In the next shot, Tom is approaching Goonhilly and he says that he thinks he has found the place!

Underneath the biggest dish Arthur, Tom interviews Des Prouse for some background and history on the BT Goonhilly site and finally meets with Chris. He says SentForever is his last hope and begs Chris to send the Golden Record. The series ends with a champagne toast below Arthur as Chris confirms that SentForever will transmit the message!

Our messages into eternity may have no final destination as they travel forever, but they do have an interesting starting point – the BT Goonhilly earth station in Cornwall, UK.

Goonhilly was once the largest earth satellite station in the world, with more than 25 dishes in use and over 60 in total. Its first dish, called Arthur, was built in 1962 to link with Telstar, the world’s first active satellite. Arthur received the first ever live transatlantic television broadcasts from the United States via the Telstar satellite on July 11, 1962.

Ofcom has licensed SentForever to transmit our messages into deep space and our messages are transmitted in the Ku band in the 12 to 18 GHz wave band. At Goonhilly there is a visitor centre that explains all the activities that occur at the site. See http://www.goonhilly.bt.com for more information.

Our dish points roughly south east, and as we transmit our messages they pass 600 miles over the French Mediterranean in the blink of an eye. Within five hours the messages leave our solar system and travel at the speed of light for the rest of eternity.

All our messages are transmitted from the Goonhilly earth station, so whether you are sending a message for a newly born baby, proposing marriage in the most romantic way possible, sending a message of remembrance to honour someone’s memory, or simply expressing how much you love someone, your eternal message will commence its journey from Goonhilly.