Austrian composer Johann Strauss II’s famous waltz “Blue Danube” will be broadcast into space on May 31 to celebrate his 200th birthday and the European Space Agency’s founding. The performance, conducted by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, will be livestreamed from three locations: Vienna, Madrid, and New York.
The music will be transmitted as radio signals at a speed of 670 million mph, reaching past Mars in 4.5 minutes and Neptune in four hours. This transmission marks the agency’s attempt to correct a “cosmic mistake” made when Voyager 1 was launched in 1977, which skipped Strauss’ waltz.
The “Blue Danube” will be sent via the ESA’s deep-space network, with a pre-recorded version being relayed live from the orchestra’s rehearsal on May 30. The performance aims to connect music lovers across time and space.
This isn’t the first time NASA has broadcast music into space. In 2008, they transmitted the Beatles’ “Across the Universe,” while last year they sent Missy Elliott’s “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” towards Venus. In 2012, a recording of will.i.am’s “Reach for the Stars” was beamed to Mars via a NASA Mars rover.
The Voyager Golden Records, launched in 1977, also contain sounds and images of Earth, as well as 90 minutes of music by famous composers like Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart. The late astronomer Carl Sagan chose these pieces, but Strauss’ waltz was missed from the selection.
To correct this “cosmic mistake,” the Vienna tourist board is sending the “Blue Danube” into space, with ESA’s deep-space antenna in Spain pointing it towards Voyager 1.
Source: https://apnews.com/article/johann-strauss-blue-danube-space-ba86ec064dcf41894b29d0578858031f