Strauss's Blue Danube beamed into space as Vienna celebrates with concert
The European Space Agency's big radio antenna in Spain beamed the waltz into the cosmos on Saturday.
Operators aimed the dish at Voyager 1, the world's most distant spacecraft, more than 15 billion miles away.
Travelling at the speed of light, the music was expected to overtake Voyager 1 within 23 hours.
The Vienna Symphony Orchestra performed the Blue Danube during the space transmission, which actually sent up a version from rehearsal.
It is part of a year-long celebration marking the 200th birthday of Johann Strauss, who was born in Vienna in 1825.
The Strauss space send-off also marks the 50th anniversary of ESA's founding.
Launched in 1977 and now in interstellar space, each of the two Voyagers carries a Golden Record full of music but nothing from Strauss.
His Blue Danube holds special meaning for space fans, as it is featured in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 sci-fi film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
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The Guardian
a day ago
- The Guardian
Hey aliens, here's our new album! How do you follow up a 50-year-old record that's hurtling through space?
It's almost 50 years since one of the strangest records ever made was launched – not into the pop charts but into the farthest reaches of outer space. Known as the Golden Record, this 12-inch, gold-plated copper disc was an album compiled by astronomer Carl Sagan featuring everything from classical music and spoken-word greetings to the sounds of nature and a blast of Chuck Berry's Jonny B Goode. Humans could enjoy it, of course, but they weren't the target audience. Rather, a copy was placed on Voyager 1 and 2, the two space probes launched in 1977, in the hope that they would one day be discovered and listened to by an alien life form. The Golden Record came with various diagrammatic instructions on how to play it correctly. But as to what aliens might make of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto, the sounds of humpback whales and a greeting in the Chinese dialects Wu, we will never know. Both Voyager probes are still intact, currently hurtling through the Kuiper belt in interstellar space, but we are likely to lose contact with them in around a decade's time. This means we will miss the Golden Record's first realistic chance of being discovered – when it's expected to pass within 1.6 light years of the star Gliese 445 in 40,000 years' time. And yet the record continues to inspire. It's certainly the key influence behind Earth Rising: Messages from the Pale Blue Dot, the first in a series of three audio works by arts organisation Artangel that are being released on digital platforms in the run-up to the Golden Record's 50th anniversary. 'I visit artist studios and hear what they're grappling with,' says Artangel director Mariam Zulfiqar. 'They worry about what digital technology has done to human connection, this looming fear of climate, the state of geopolitics. Yet, within that fear, is also an enormous hope for what they believe humanity could be – and a desire to keep making new work that shows us a different perspective on ourselves.' Zulfiqar has been fascinated with the Golden Record ever since she was a child growing up in Pakistan. 'To send this out there without knowing what would happen is quite romantic, especially in today's outcome-driven world,' she says. So she came up with an idea: what if we made a modern version of the Golden Record that was less concerned with introducing ourselves to aliens and more about introducing humanity to itself? She got to work inviting artists from around the world to contribute. The result is a collection of poems and experimental compositions that grapple with our present moment. Sebastián Riffo Valdebenito creates a track from the sounds of rock carving at the petroglyph site of Valle del Encanto in Coquimbo, Chile, while Michel Nieva contributes The Alien Mother, a short story set in a future where humanity has colonised Mars. Elsewhere, there are poems about US turmoil, ethereal songs created using just the human voice, and what is described as a 'sonic invocation' that honours the calabash, a hard-shelled type of fruit used to make instruments. It's almost as diverse and confounding as the Golden Record itself which, along with its various audio recordings, featured 115 images encoded in analogue form (a circle, a track athlete, etc) and a condensed recording of Sagan's wife's brainwaves, captured while she thought deeply about the Earth's history and various human experiences such as falling in love (I'd like to see you work that one out, aliens!). 'What surprised me is the connections,' says Zulfiqar. 'There's a beautiful line in Nigerian poet Ofem Ubi's piece Family Tree that says, 'In my attempts at tethering, I have loved many people, countries, ghosts.' That sense of lost love is echoed in some of the other works. Similarly, Emilia Álvarez and Max Cooper both made music using sounds from the human body.' The latter's track, Rhythm of Harmony (A Representation of Music), is the contribution most likely to have worked on the original LP. Inspired by some of the more withering responses to the Golden Record by philosophers of the time, who mocked the idea that other life forms would have a clue how to read the instructions, never mind appreciate, say, the traditional Aboriginal song Devil Bird, Cooper set about making a record that would have the best chance of making sense to an alien. His piece is based on a series of rhythmic clicks that gradually speed up until they make the sound of a tone, at least to human ears. 'I've assumed the alien that discovers this is spacefaring, so they're probably more advanced than us and their transition from individual sounds to tones maybe happens at a much higher frequency than ours,' he says. 'So they won't hear these nice tones like we do – what they'll hear is the relationship in terms of the rhythms of the clicks. I wanted to break music down to the simplest source of sound that an alien might be able to understand.' Cooper has a science background – he holds a PhD in computational biology and previously worked as a geneticist – which he puts to good use when I ask questions such as: what if aliens haven't evolved hearing in the same way we have? 'There's a thing called convergent evolution,' he says. 'On Earth, the eye has evolved multiple times independently. It's the same with other senses like hearing. That gives us reason to believe that aliens would have similar senses. It's not watertight but you can definitely make that argument.' Cooper's track is embellished with huge 1980s synth chords that give it a brilliantly retro sci-fi feel, a concession to the fact that it's currently only going to be heard by humans. 'Originally, the plan was for it to be made only with sounds made by the body, but the chords that came from just the body were pretty nasty,' he says. 'I love conceptual music but I wanted to make something that was nice to listen to as well.' Trying to empathise with the sensory evolution of an alien race is an act of optimism that chimes with the original spirit of the Golden Record. But other contributions to Earth Rising strike a bleaker note: dehumanisation, fascism and grief are all picked over by the various artists. Porsha Olayiwola's scathing In Alignment With the Women Before Me documents the horrors that have taken place on American soil in recent years, namechecking Amber Thurman, the 28-year-old medical assistant who died of septic shock in Georgia after a medical abortion. It also references Aaron Bushnell, the 25-year-old serviceman who set himself alight outside the Israeli embassy in Washington DC. 'I struggle with my role as a poet/writer/artist/witness,' says Olayiwola. 'Part of me always wants to do more than write – I want to organise and protest and mobilise. I ask, 'What can I do with my pencil? What can I do with my voice?' I thought, if anything, we must begin to speak about these things. Acknowledge and witness and document these atrocities. And perhaps we will begin to intervene.' I wonder if the despair of today is a little jarring considering the hope and optimism of the original project, but Zulfiqar disagrees. 'Even when somebody is saying something quite bleak,' she says, 'it reflects that they believe things could be better.' Olayiwola agrees: 'We only leave the bleakness behind if we elect to look it directly in the eye, and shape our future accordingly. My poem serves as a reflection of the abyss. May it be as dark as the night sky in which we may see a glimmer of a star.' Earth Rising: Messages from the Pale Blue Dot is out now
BBC News
a day ago
- BBC News
UK start-up to launch metal-fuelled thruster into space
A UK-built spacecraft engine that runs on metal is preparing for its first test in space, in a mission that could pave the way for longer-lasting, more flexible plasma thruster, developed by Oxfordshire start-up Magdrive, heats tiny bits of solid metal into a hot gas to produce powerful bursts of thrust. In the future it could allow satellites to recycle parts of themselves, or space junk for fuel, but for now the metal is carried launch, which is due from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, US, at 22:00 BST, is backed by the UK and European space agencies. Mark Stokes, chief executive and co-founder of Magdrive, said the mission showed what British innovation could achieve with the right support. "We've spent four years building something that breaks the mould," he said."This launch isn't just about proving our tech – it's about proving the UK can lead in space." Dr Gianluigi Baldesi, from the European Space Agency, said the quick progress from project start to launch demonstrated the "bold" innovation it aimed to encourage. "In less than a year, we have gone from kick-off to launch," he from the test flight is expected in August and September. You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Daily Mail
Life on Mars: Humans will live in huge 'space oases' on the Red Planet in just 15 years, European Space Agency predicts
Imagine a future where humans live in huge 'space oases' on Mars – luxury indoor habitats made of heat-reflective material that grow their own food. Robots are sent into the vast Martian wilderness, where they explore without the risk of exhaustion, radiation poisoning or dust contamination. Enormous space stations and satellites are manufactured in orbit, AI is trusted to make critical decisions, and the whole solar system is connected by a vast internet network. While this sounds like science-fiction, the European Space Agency (ESA) hopes it will become a reality in just 15 years. In a new report, the agency – which represents more than 20 countries including the UK – outlines an ambitious vision for space exploration by 2040. 'By 2040, we envision a resilient European presence across Earth's orbits and the solar system,' it says. 'Expanding into space is not a luxury but a necessity and space is no longer a frontier – it is a territory. 'It unlocks unknown resources that open new markets and enable scientific breakthroughs.' The new report, 'Technology 2040: A Vision For The European Space Agency', shows the public where ESA wants to be 'in the decades to come and the directions for how to get there'. As part of its vision, in just 15 years' time, humans will dwell in 'plentiful' habitats called 'space oases' in Earth's orbit and also on the moon, Mars and far beyond. These white domes will protect humans from cosmic radiation, offering a place for them to sleep, eat and work between trips outside. They will be utterly self-sustaining habitats, creating their own power and food, making resupply missions from Earth a thing of the past. More than ever before on Earth, humans will rely on autonomous technology akin to the droids in Star Wars to explore the vast planet, about 4,212 miles in diameter. 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For example, the tennis-court-sized James Webb Space Telescope was painstakingly and expensively designed to fit within its launch rocket 'like a model ship in a bottle' before unfolding in space four years ago. Instead, such a machine could be manufactured and assembled directly in orbit, or on the surface of the moon or Mars. Autonomous spacecraft will no longer need gatherings of humans to shepherd them from a distance because they'll have the required intelligence of their own, eliminating the need for ground control. Space debris, meanwhile, will be recycled and reused to create a 'circular and sustainable' space economy, mitigating environmental impacts To date, human habitation in space has been limited to space stations in low-Earth orbit, where crew members stay for short periods – around six months at most. But in the near future, people would stay in space for months or years at a time, or eventually move there permanently, making us a multiplanetary species. The new report, 'Technology 2040: A Vision For The European Space Agency', shows the public where ESA wants to be 'in the decades to come and the directions for how to get there' ESA says: 'The next steps in human exploration will involve longer stays and farther destinations. 'Key to the success of these undertakings will be the creation of more permanent infrastructure with increased independence from Earth.' While undoubtedly an exciting vision, ESA and its members no doubt have their work cut out to make it a reality in just 15 years. As yet, no human has ventured further from Earth than 248,655 miles, as achieved by the Apollo 13 crew on April 14, 1970. In comparison, Mars is 140 million miles from Earth on average, and our only presence there is a collection of debris and rovers in various states of activity. NASA and Elon Musk's SpaceX are both planning to put humans on Mars in the next 20 years – but no spaceship yet in existence is ready for the journey. The most promising vessel is SpaceX's Starship, which has been designed for long-distance space travel, but it could be decades before it's ready for a Mars trip. On Wednesday night, Starship exploded into a bull of flames after a malfunction during a routine ground test in Texas. Despite once being home to lush oceans of liquid water billions of years ago, any traces of H2O on Mars today are well hidden. But experts say there's two miles of water buried beneath the surface in an area of the planet's equator, known as the Medusae Fossae Formation (MFF). The water is frozen as ice in a layer measuring over two miles (3.7km) thick, according to new data from the Mars Express spacecraft. If melted, the water would cover the whole of Mars in a layer of liquid up to 8.8 feet (2.7 metres) deep, and would be enough to fill Earth's Red Sea. Although melting the ice may require an ambitious drilling operation when astronauts land on Mars, it could potentially be used for drinking or growing crops.
