In the first ever planet-to-planet music broadcast, NASA’s rover Curiosity beamed a new song by Black Eyed Peas rapper Will.i.am from Mars.
Curiosity played an mp3 file of the song ‘Reach for the Stars’ to an audience of engineers and students at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California on Tuesday, reported New York Times.
“Why do they say the sky is the limit when I’ve seen the footprints on the moon?” Will.i.am sings in the song, which made its solar system premiere after a 330-million-mile trip, from Earth to Mars and back again.
Will.i.am is no stranger to outlandish stunts, but this time there is a serious motive to encourage interest in science and space exploration.
The 37-year-old ‘Boom Boom Pow’ hitmaker is hosting an educational initiative on interplanetary exploration with his charity i.am.angel.
The star was present at the Pasadena Laboratory when the rover landed on Mars on August 12.
NASA said last night that the track describes Will.i.am’s passion for science, technology and space exploration.
This is not the first time that NASA has dabbled in music from outer space. In 2008, the space agency celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Beatles song ‘Across the Universe’ by transmitting it into deep space.