Pioneers of Mars

How very very cool. From Karen Linsley earlier today:
"Every Martian morning, the staff at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory participating in the Mars rover project start the day by playing a song as a wake-up for the rover. Today I am proud and a little overwhelmed to announce that this morning the wake up song for the rover Opportunity was Pioneers of Mars. One small step for a robot, one giant leap toward a dream and maybe even a legacy." As some of you already know, Karen's co-author and partner, Lloyd Landa, died days before the song was debuted to a standing ovation at the Mars Society conference in Toronto four years ago.

From the Mars Exploration Rover Mission site:
"Observations by the panoramic camera and miniature thermal emission spectrometer were completed successfully on sol 20. The sol's wake-up music was 'I Like Dirt,' by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and 'Pioneers of Mars,' by Karen Linsley and Lloyd Landa."

You can find links and more information in Allison's Livejournal entry here. Thanks to Eli Goldberg, who put in many hours researching the JPL tactical uplink managers and other staff members who were in a position to make this dream actually happen. You can find the full RealAudio stream of the entire song (and more information) available at http://www.totouchthestars.com (the song is from the "To Touch the Stars" CD).

I discovered a few days ago that ViaVoice doesn't work so well when I'm laughing (Jeff and Maya Bohnhoff's fault, during an iChat session). Now I find it doesn't work so well when I'm crying, either. :-)

Congratulations, Karen! Lloyd would have been so very proud.

February 2004 comments: Read | Post | LJ