ESA Plans to Transmit Classic 'Blue Danube' Waltz into Cosmos
In 1968, Johann Strauss II's "By the Beautiful Blue Danube" gained a space connection as it was featured in the film "2001: A Space Odyssey". This weekend, the waltz takes a more literal place in the cosmos as the European Space Agency (ESA) beams it into space.
The Viennese symphony will perform the piece live on Saturday, with the music broadcast from a Spanish radio antenna operated by the ESA. This broadcast celebrates both the 50th anniversary of the ESA's creation and the 200th anniversary of Strauss' birth.
In a historic oversight, the waltz was absent when NASA launched a collection of music, sounds, and images, known as the Voyager Golden Record, on the Voyager 1 and 2 missions in 1977. Voyager 1, the first human-made object to leave the solar system, continues its journey out into deep space today.
The ESA aims to rectify this oversight, with Norbert Kettner, director of the Vienna Tourist Board, stating, "The absence of the most famous of all waltzes from the 1977 Voyager Golden Record is a cosmic mistake." Strauss was a native of Austria, and the Vienna Tourist Board is assisting the space agency in the broadcast.
While a piece by another notable Austrian composer, Mozart, was included on the Voyager Golden Record, the selection process emphasized eclecticism and ideological purity, leading to the omission of popular or folk genres. However, the ESA's broadcast of "By the Beautiful Blue Danube" serves as a symbolic gesture and a celebration of the iconic music.
The 115-foot-wide radio antenna in Spain will transmit the music at the speed of light in the direction of Voyager 1. The music will race past Voyager 1, which was launched in 1977 and left the solar system in 2012, in just 23 hours.
Josef Aschbacher, the director general of the ESA, noted that this event demonstrates the agency's ability to transmit not only scientific data but also human art over significant distances. Notably, this is not the first time humans have beamed music deep into space. Last year, NASA sent Missy Elliott's "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" to Venus, and in 2008, NASA celebrated its 50th anniversary by sending "Across the Universe" by The Beatles into deep space.
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The European Space Agency (ESA) aims to rectify a historic oversight by beaming Johann Strauss II's "By the Beautiful Blue Danube" into space, a piece absent when NASA launched the Voyager Golden Record in 1977. This broadcast, scheduled on Saturday, not only celebrates the 50th anniversary of the ESA's creation and the 200th anniversary of Strauss' birth but also serves as a symbolic gesture for the iconic music. This 115-foot-wide radio antenna in Spain will transmit the music at the speed of light, with the melody expected to reach Voyager 1 in just 23 hours.
