By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
posted: 06:30 am ET
26 February 2004
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/mars_rocks_040226.html
|
|
Mars
Rocks! Eclectic Music Moves Rover Mission By Robert Roy Britt Senior Science Writer posted: 06:30 am ET 26 February 2004 |
You won't find the following playlist on any radio station. Only a Martian would mix ABBA with R. Kelly, Beyoncé with Gene Autry, and the Rolling Stones with Rodgers and Hammerstein.
Or someone pretending to be a Martian.
The eclectic playlist is Mars rover Spirit mission manager Mark Adler's way of waking exhausted engineers and scientists who are working and sleeping on Mars time and dealing with a sometimes temperamental rover millions of miles away. And with entries like the Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated," it shows that NASA people are anything but stuffy.
 |
The music can lighten tense times. During the nail-biting moments before Spirit's descent and landing in January, at the suggestion of team member Rob Manning, Adler played Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy."
The Beatles tune "We Can Work it Out" greeted the team one morning as it tried to debug computer problems that stalled Spirit for several days. For other reasons that become clear as you read the list, even The Cars get airtime, as does Weird Al Yankovic (either you know his music all too well or you never heard of him).
And, of course, Elvis makes an appearance, singing "Stuck On You" after a frustrating day of no driving.
Most of the songs are played in the morning shortly after the crew has assembled for work. Adler has picked the bulk of the music heard by his team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Music was played for the 1997 Pathfinder crew members, too.
A separate team operating Spirit's twin, Opportunity, is also following the tradition. Earlier this week, the Opportunity group began their day listening to "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and his Comets. The group has heard a less eclectic mix, however.
Adler and his colleagues take requests for the Spirit playlist but ultimately run their own show.
"We get lots of suggestions from inside the team and out, and they do get used," he told SPACE.com. "That is, when the suggestions are good ones."
Adler has preselected a few songs that mention rivers and running water, in the event that Spirit discovers what it went looking for. He did not reveal what those songs were. But he said, "I also have U2's 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' to play before that."
Below is the Spirit playlist, along with some explanations by Adler for why the songs were chosen. A sol is a Martian day, slightly longer than a day on Earth at 24 hours, 37 minutes.
Opportunity's playlist:
(thanks, Beverly)
return to Ida's L. A. Woman Confidential home page
for more Doors news and reviews