JAXA, Japan’s space exploration agency, has created a strange little applet on its Web site called “Moonbell”. It takes topographic data gathered by the agency’s Kaguya orbiter, and translates them into patterns of ascending and descending musical notes. You can either follow a pre-ordained orbit through the lunar hills and hollows, or, in “free scratch” mode, carve out your own route across the Moon. Now if only the music wasn’t so awful — it sounds like a drunk knocking his head against a piano keyboard, though I suppose it does reflect the ups and downs of the terrain. Maybe there’s a way to link to music a bit more appropriately astral — something like Brian Eno’s Bloom iPhone app?

Image: JAXA