The Beatles’ song Across the Universe is being beamed into space by NASA today as an over-determined celebration of: the (week of the) 50th anniversary of the launch of Explorer 1, the first US satellite; the 45th birthday of the Deep Space Network (DSN), the collection of antennas that receives the data from interplanetary missions; and the exact 40th anniversary of the recording of the song (NASA press release).
Quote of the moment goes to Paul McCartney, who apparently gave his permission to use the song saying: “Send my love to the aliens.” (For more rocking SETI, see this post on our sister blog, In the Field)
It’s not at first totally clear why NASA is doing this… other than to garner massive press attention. The north star, at which the transmission is aimed, is not a particularly likely place to find aliens. And any responding ditty would not get back for most of a millennium. The DSN is not being given over to a concerted “active SETI” programme blanketing nearby stars with the sounds of the 60s (indeed, there’s reason to be leery of all active SETI attempts, as we discussed in an editorial a few years back).
Anyway, I’d like to think this to be a genuinely felt attempt to keep the public interested in space and NASA, rather than just an advertising gimmick (like when Pizza Hut delivered a pizza to the ISS, or when a golf-club company asked an astronaut to take a shot).
However, AP notes that, “Perhaps coincidentally, the song’s launching comes a day before the release of the DVD of the Julie Taymor movie named after the Beatles hit.” Sigh. To go all the way down that (long and winding) road, here’s the link to the film.
Pop Quiz:
1) What song did “Active SETI” proponents beam out to space in 1999 and again in 2002?
2) Which group was commissioned to write the musical signal to be sent back to Earth by the ill-fated Beagle 2 when it landed on Mars?
3) The anticipated February maiden launch of ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle will carry an iPod with a winning playlist for astronauts; what’s the top song?
Answers below the fold…
1) Answer: One Love
2) Answer: Blur
3) Answer: Here Comes the Sun, by the Beatles (again)