View source for Astronomy:Across the Universe (message)

{{Short description|2008 interstellar radio message}}
'''Across the Universe''' is an interstellar radio message (IRM) consisting of the song "Across the Universe" by the Beatles that was transmitted on 4 February 2008, at 00:00 [[UTC]] by [[Organization:NASA|NASA]]  in the direction of the star [[Astronomy:Polaris|Polaris]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Administrator |first=NASA Content |date=2017-06-01 |title=NASA Beams Beatles' 'Across the Universe' Into Space |url=http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/across_universe.html |access-date=2022-05-27 |website=NASA |language=en}}</ref> This transmission was made using a 70-meter "DSS-63" dish in the [[Astronomy:NASA Deep Space Network|NASA Deep Space Network]]'s (DSN) Madrid Deep Space Communication Complex, located in Robledo, near [[Place:Madrid|Madrid]], {{wipe|Spain}}. The transmission ran in the 4.2-cm band (around 7.14&nbsp;GHz, [[Astronomy:C band (IEEE)|C band]]) at a power of 18 kilowatt. The format was digital, transmitted at a rate of 128&nbsp;kbps, lasting 3.6&nbsp;minutes &ndash; the normal speed and data rate for a [[Digital recording|digital recording]] on Earth.<ref name=Zaitsev/>

This action was done in order to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the song's recording, the 45th anniversary of the DSN, and the 50th anniversary of NASA. The idea was hatched by Beatles historian Martin Lewis, who encouraged all Beatles fans to play the track as it was beamed towards the distant star. The event marked the second time a song had ever been intentionally transmitted into [[Astronomy:Outer space|deep space]] (the first being Russia's [[Astronomy:Teen Age Message|Teen Age Message]] in 2001),<ref name=Zaitsev>{{cite journal|last=Zaitsev|first=A. L.|title=The first musical interstellar radio message|journal=Journal of Communications Technology and Electronics|date=3 April 2008|volume=53|issue=9|pages=1107–1113|doi=10.1134/S106422690809012X|s2cid=119435654}} (criticism of "NASA Beatles Transmission" at pp.&nbsp;1111–1112)</ref> and was approved by Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono, and Apple Records.<ref>{{Cite web |title=NASA beaming Beatles tune to the stars |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna22951001 |access-date=2022-05-27 |website=NBC News |date=February 2008 |language=en}}</ref>

AL Zaitsev, part of the Teen Age Message project, argues that the NASA project is only a publicity stunt. The compressed digital format used makes the data more fragile to errors compared to TAM's analogue approach, not to mention aliens would not have knowledge on human audio compression algorithms. The transmission data rate is also too high to allow for a remote radio station to faithfully receive; a data rate 300,000 times lower would be required. Finally, the choice of Polaris also makes the message unlikely to reach any alien lifeform should they exist.<ref name=Zaitsev/>

== See also ==
* [[Astronomy:List of interstellar radio messages|List of interstellar radio messages]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Interstellar messages}}

[[Category:Search for extraterrestrial intelligence]]
[[Category:Interstellar messages]]
[[Category:Technology in society]]



{{Sourceattribution|Across the Universe (message)}}