February 3rd, 2008
NASA to Beam the Beatles “Across the Universe”
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
At 7 PM EST on Feb. 4, NASA is going to celebrate five different anniversaries by beaming the Beatles’ song “Across the Universe” into deep space.
Monday will mark the 40th anniversary of the day the song was recorded. Also celebrated will be the anniversaries (this year) of NASA’s founding, the inception of The Beatles and the Explorer 1 launch (the first U.S. satellite), all 50 years old, and the 45th birthday of the Deep Space Network, an international network of antennas that supports missions to explore the universe.
The transmission is being aimed at the North Star, Polaris, 431 light years away from Earth.
In a press release, reaction came from Paul McCartney and John Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono.
Paul McCartney said “Amazing! Well done, NASA! Send my love to the aliens. All the best, Paul.”
The song was principally written by John Lennon, and Yoko Ono said “I see that this is the beginning of the new age in which we will communicate with billions of planets across the universe.”
Additionally, Feb. 4 has been declared “Across The Universe Day” by Beatles fans to commemorate the anniversaries and the public around the world has been invited to participate in the event by simultaneously playing the song at the same time it is transmitted by NASA.
Hmmm … if “they” beam anything back could this be considered P2P?
SomeDumbGuy says:
As if radio hasn’t been “beamed ‘across the Universe’” since its inception over 100 years ago…
February 3rd, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Michael Santo says:
Yah, but it’s a nice publicity stunt.
February 3rd, 2008 at 7:46 pm
John Corliss says:
Isn’t anybody else concerned that this will alert the giant brain-eating slugs on Delta-Psion 7 to our location?
February 4th, 2008 at 4:38 am
Not really... says:
Personally, I’m more worried about the giant brain-eating slugs I see on TV and in the White House every day.
February 4th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
John says:
NASA - gov’t spending at its’ worst
How does a Rover on Mars help me make ends meet?
February 4th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Lazlo says:
John (not Corliss), I was extremely surprised to see a comment like yours posted on a technophile site. It makes me think you’re a troll. However, there is not one facet of modern life that has not been affected by technology developed by the space program. Including how you earn your living, no matter what that might be. I won’t list anything specific because others have already done so as a two second Google search showed. So I’ll simply provide the top listing from that search.
http://www.thespaceplace.com/nasa/spinoffs.html
February 5th, 2008 at 7:43 am