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NASA's Playlist for the Mars Rover Mission
TaddyPorter writes "'It has become somewhat of a NASA tradition that during missions to space a wake-up song is played at the beginning of each day's mission.' Over at atsnn.com a NASA Mars mission manager contributed their playlist. What's even more interesting is what song has been played and why, for instance, when NASA lost communications S.O.S by ABBA was played and when the system experienced a flash problem the Flash Gordon theme song by Queen was used."
I wonder if they keep such a diverse collection of music on legally-bought CDs, or just Kazaa for the song of the day?
"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." - Thomas Jefferson
Can i be the first to say... CHEESE! The triple-cheddar award for the geeks @ NASA :D Good thing though they are space scientists not umm... great fans of culture, shall way.
TOP STORY: NASA gets into the Groove!
...", Air bags not cooperating.)
Posted by: Kano
On: Sat February, 21 2004 @ 02:07 GMT
ATSNN.com Exclusive
It has become somewhat of a NASA tradition that during missions to space a wake-up song is played at the beginning of each day's mission. Such wake-up Music was played to shuttle crews at the commencement of their daily activities. Wake-up music was also played for the teams controlling the Pathfinder mission to Mars in 1997 at the beginning of each Sol's activities. Wake-up music has made a triumphant return for the current Rover missions on Mars.
The function of the Wake-Up Music is as it would suggest, to 'wake-up' the mission team and get them focused on the days activities. As we will see the selection is often a little bit tongue-in-cheek. The music was originally played for the team around the time that the "sweep" was transmitted to the Rover shortly after it woke up. This sweeps the transmit frequency so the Rover's receiver can lock onto it. This occurs at around 8.45AM local time (at the landing site). However this meant the song was being played before many of the team members came-in, so the time was subsequently shifted to 10AM local time. By this time most of the crew are on station and ready to begin the Sol's activities. Sol is the term for a Martian 'Day'. One Martian Sol is 39.5 minutes longer than one Earth Day.
The song (sometimes songs) for each Sol are typically chosen by the Mission Managers, in the case of Spirit this is Dr. Mark Adler. The songs are chosen for a link they have with the planned activities for the day. The selections are often quite humorous. Dr. Adler was kind enough to give ATSNN the full list of songs played on the Spirit Mission so far.
Sol 2: Good Morning, Good Morning, by the Beatles.
Sol 3: Oh What a Beautiful Mornin', by Rodgers and Hammerstein.
Sol 4: Hail to the Chief, by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. (Presidential phone call.)
Sol 5: Satisfaction, by the Rolling Stones. ("I can't get no
Sol 6: Get Up, Stand Up, by Bob Marley. (Lift mechanism actuated.)
Sol 7: Da Da Da, by Casaca. (Brazilian song suggested by investigator from Brazil, RRGTM student that week from Brazil.)
Sol 8: Soak Up the Sun, by Cheryl Crow. (Laid-back sol.)
Sol 9: I Can See Clearly Now, by Jimmy Cliff. (Picture taking sol.)
Sol 10: Unchained, by Van Halen; Hit the Road Jack, by Buster Poindexter; Turn, Turn, Turn, by the Byrds. (Cable-cutting, backup on deck. start turn on deck.)
Sol 11: I Get Around, by the Beach Boys; Round and Round, by Ratt; You Spin Me 'Round, by Thalia. (Rest of turn on deck.)
Sol 12: Born to be Wild, by Steppenwolf; Rawhide, by Riders in the Sky; Who Let The Dogs Out?, by the Baha Men. (Egress.)
Sol 13: Reach Out, by the Four Tops. (First arm activity.)
Sol 14: You've Got The Magic Touch, by The Platters. (Touching arm down on Mars.)
Sol 15: If You Love Somebody Set Them Free, by Sting; Roam, by The B-52's; Good Times Roll, by The Cars. (Last engineering activities, first drive on the surface.)
Sol 16: After Midnight, by Eric Clapton; Trash Day, by Weird Al Yankovic. (Crew starts Mars day after California midnight, part of the sol dedicated to deleting contents of flash.)
Sol 17: We Will Rock You, by Queen. (First arm activities and observations on a rock.)
Sol 18: Sledgehammer, by Peter Gabriel. (Intended first RAT sol, though ran into problems later, to put it mildly.)
Sol 19: S. O. S., by Abba. (Objective was to regain contact with Spirit after a loss of communications. We did.)
Sol 20: Baby, Talk To Me, from the musical Bye Bye Birdie. (Objective was to get Spirit to send data. We did.)
Sol 21: Satellite, by The Hooters. (A rousing lullaby for when we were trying, and succeeded, to get the rover to go to sleep. We did.)
Sol 22: We Can Work It Out, by The Beatles. (Beginning debugging activities to get Spirit back t
Sol 23: Start Me Up, by the Rolling Stones. (Booting in crippled mode.)
*ROTFLMAO*
Yes, this isn't the first time "Start Me Up" has been used to describe a crippled OS.
arg. forever ruined in my mind as the Windows(95) theme.
Flash! ah-ahh!
Savior of the Universe!
Flash! ah-ahh!
He'll save everyone of us!
Flash! ah-ahh!
He's a miracle!
Flash! ah-ahh!
King of the impossible!
He's for everyone of us!
Stands for everyone of us!
He saves with a mighty hand!
Every man every woman!
Every child-he's a mighty!
Flash.
He's just a man
With a man's courage
Nothing but a man
But he can never fail
No-one but the pure at heart
May find the Golden Grail
So you feel that you ain't nobody
Always needed to be somebody
Put your feet on the ground
Put your hand on your heart
Lift your head to the stars
And the world's for your taking
So you feel it's the end of the story
Find it all pretty satisfactory
Well I tell you my friend
This might seem like the end
But the continuation
Is yours for the making
Yes you're a hero
You got the TOUCH! You got the POWER!!
"Derp de derp."
That strikes me as a particularly ill-chosen adjective to describe a lullaby.
My deviantArt site
Earth day == "day" Mars day == "Sol" Lunar day == ? Jupiter day == ? Saturn day == "Saturnalia" Venereal day == "Lucky"
...that when they were booting in "crippled mode" they played "Start Me Up" by the Rolling Stones, which Microsoft used at one time to promote Windows. Windows = "crippled mode"? You be the judge.
Seeing as how the two rovers are stone deaf, all the talk of "waking the rover up to the tune of (foo)" is pretty ironic.
Does the RIAA have interplanetary jurisdiction? Rover must be playing illegal MP3s, WMA, or something, right? Or did NASA include a 100-disc changer?
I'm Continuously Rebooting, by Billy and The Bluescreens
FREEBIRD!!!!!!!
I'm not tense. I'm just terribly, terribly, alert.
I think that America with 'A horse with no name' would be nice as well :-)
On the first part of the journey I was looking at all the life There were plants and birds and rocks and things
(ok ok..we still haven't found birds..just rocks and things ;)
There was sand and hills and rings
(check)
The first thing I met was a fly with a buzz And the sky with no clouds The heat was hot and the ground was dry But the air was full of sound
(Alien sounds? oohh..creepy.. or are they talking about Sting again?)
I've been through the desert on a horse with no name
(mind you: there is still no confirmation of horses on Mars! :p)
It felt good to be out of the rain
(Yes, Earth has Rain.. Mars has dust ;-)
In the desert you can remember your name 'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain La, la ...
After two days in the desert sun My skin began to turn red After three days in the desert fun I was looking at a river bed And the story it told of a river that flowed Made me sad to think it was dead
(Dead? I'm a doctor Jim, not a biological lifeform!)
You see I've been through the desert on a horse with no name
(still no word on the Spirit using a horse )
It felt good to be out of the rain In the desert you can remember your name 'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain La, la ...
After nine days I let the horse run free 'Cause the desert had turned to sea
(sea? water? Houston!)
There were plants and birds and rocks and things there was sand and hills and rings The ocean is a desert with it's life underground
(I'm convinced now that when America wrote this song that they knew about the underground city network of the aliens on Mars!)
And a perfect disguise above Under the cities lies a heart made of ground But the humans will give no love
(No love? Mars is the planet of War! What are you thinking..)
You see I've been through the desert on a horse with no name It felt good to be out of the rain In the desert you can remember your name 'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain La, la ...
(I'm still wondering about the meaning of that 'pain' thing though.. :-/)
Now that I've almost finished this post.. I've got a shocking thought crossing my mind.
What if.. what if NASA started playing Britney's "In the Zone" (to "appeal to teenagers".. (I'm 23.. guess I feel already old ;-))....
Would that be our first act of war in space? :O :D