Voyager: Sounds of the Cosmos

Voyager: Sounds of the Cosmos
Live album by RazorEyeDownloads
Released August 26, 2011 (2011-08-26)
Recorded July 1979, Jupiter,
August 1981, Saturn
January 1986, Uranus
August 1989, Neptune
Genre Unorganised Dark Ambient[1]
Label RazorEyeDownloads (R.E.D.)
Producer RazorEye
RazorEyeDownloads chronology
Voyager: Sounds Of the Cosmos
(2011)		 The Best Of OcReMix
(TBA)
Singles from Voyager: Sounds Of the Cosmos
  1. "Jupiter Closest Approach"
    Released: July 10, 2011
  2. "Uranus Bow Shock"
    Released: July 29, 2011

Voyager: Sounds of the Cosmos is an unofficial digital download compilation album recorded by NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 during their flybys of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. It was collaborated and was planned for worldwide download release by RazorEyeDownloads (R.E.D) on August 26, 2011.

The album is a collection of planetary radio emission signals recorded by the Voyager's Planetary Radio Astronomy Investigation Instrument during its mission. They were converted into Sound Files by NASA for further studies. They were individually released to the general public in the years following their original recordings.

Contents

Background and development

The Voyager program is a series of United States unmanned space missions that consists of a pair of unmanned scientific probes, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. They were launched in 1977 to take advantage of a favorable planetary alignment of the late 1970s. Although they were officially designated to study just Jupiter and Saturn, the two probes were able to continue their mission into the outer solar system. The Voyager Spacecraft each had equipment capable of recording emission signals given off by the planets, their moons and their ring systems. These equipment were designated as Planetary Radio Astronomy Investigation Instruments (PRA) and are used in Radio astronomy. Recordings were made. Interractions of the solar wind with planet's magnetosphere, magnetosphere itself, electromagnetic fields, charged particles emissions, charged particle interactions of the planet, its moons, and the solar wind. All this electromagnetic phenomenons can be transformed into electric signals, which can in turn be amplified and used to excite the membrane of a loud speaker ; thus making audible to the human ear the rustling of the cosmos. [2] All these sounds were recorded while the Voyagers were passing near their targets, and assembled without manipulation, using Audacity.

Development on Voyager: Sounds of the Cosmos started in January 2011, the 25th anniversary of Voyager 2's flyby of Uranus and 30th Anniversary of Saturn. The collaboration effort was made using tracks downloaded using various websites, including the NASA Archives and archives of news sources such as the Associated Press. Most of the files were corrupt from multiple usage, and was restored to full recording quality using Audacity. These New, refined audio files were then filed together and Uploaded to YouTube[3], and the Voyager: Sounds of the Cosmos website on Google Sites[4]

Recording

Voyager 1

Main article: Voyager 1#Mission profile

Voyager 1 flew by Jupiter on March 5–6, 1979, recording radio emissions during the Io encounter and at closest approach of Jupiter, 349,000 km (217,000 mi). With a gravity assist via Jupiter, Voyager 1 then went on to Saturn, where it recorded the radio waves emitted by Saturn during its closest approach of 124,000 km (77,000 mi) on 12 November 1980, and during its outgoing retreat on 14 November. It also managed to achieve a Titan flyby, in which Voyager too did make readings.

Voyager 2

Main article: Voyager 2#Mission profile

Voyager 2 started recording emissions when it made its flyby of Saturn on 26 August 1981. During its crossing of the ring plane it picked up a number of signals emitted by the rings and Saturn itself respectively. During the encounter with Uranus, Voyager 2 recorded the sounds of Uranus during its closest approach on 24 January 1986 at a distance of 81,500 km (50,600 mi) and during its retreat towards Neptune on 26 January. It managed to pick up signals from Uranus' Rings during closest approach and Miranda when it flew by on 24 January. On 25 August 1989, Voyager 2 made its final planetary flyby, Neptune. Voyager's final PRA objective was to record emissions of Neptune's north pole on closest approach.

Release

RazorEyeDownloads (more commonly known as R.E.D.) had gathered all the original files and put them into a studio album-type collection of all the Voyager Recordings. Of course, the Voyager Recordings were the property of NASA, but because the Work of NASA is in the Public Domain, being property of the US Government (unless noted)[5], RazorEye was legally allowed to do this. The audio pieces were restored to full quality as it was when they were originally released. Before the original Sounds Of the Cosmos was released, the album was released as a playlist on the RazorEye YouTube Channel. On April 10, 2011, the album was put up for digital download on the Sounds Of the Cosmos website.

Track listing

Legacy Edition
No. Title YouTube Link Length
1. "Earth" (Launch) 1 30:36
2. "Earth" (Echoes) 2 30:49
3. "Jupiter" (Bow Shock) 3 30:15
4. "Jupiter" (Closest Approach) 4 31:13
5. "Jupiter" (Io Flyby) 5 29:52
6. "Saturn" (Closest Approach) 6 30:43
7. "Saturn" (Rings) 7 30:38
8. "Saturn" (Voyager 1 Ring Crossing) 8 21:57
9. "Saturn" (Voyager 2 Tour Guide) 9 32:01
10. "Uranus" (Bow Shock) 10 32:12
11. "Uranus" (Approach)   04:42
12. "Uranus" (Crossing The Rings Part 1)   09:11
13. "Uranus" (Crossing The Rings Part 2)   07:52
14. "Uranus" (Crossing The Rings Part 3)   09:10
15. "Uranus" (Echoes Of The Rings)   30:52
16. "Uranus" (Miranda)   31:51
17. "Uranus" (Echoes Of Uranus)   30:31
18. "Neptune" (Closest Approach)   31:38
19. "Neptune" (Out Of The Ecliptic) 19 30:46
20. "Unspecified 1"     10:00
21. "Unspecified 2" (Interplanetary Maybe?)   31:08
Total length:
 527:57

Release history

Region Date Format Edition Link
Worldwide July 1, 2011 Digital Download Voyager: Sounds Of Jupiter EP EP Release on SotC Website
July 10, 2011 Jupiter Closest Approach Single Single Release on SotC Website
July 29, 2011 Uranus Bow Shock Single Single Release on SotC Website
August 26, 2011 Grand Tour Edition Full Album Release on the SotC Website
September 2, 2011 Standard Edition
September 3, 2011 Legacy Edition

See also

References

  1. ^ Robert Lamb, "Symphonies of the Planets: Music from the Hearts of Space?", HowStuffWorks, September 15, 2009. [1]
  2. ^ Philip Graham. "Collaboration Details". RazorEyeYTC. http://www.youtube.com/playlist?p=PL4FD74E67A7C813FF&feature=mh_lolz. Retrieved 2011-05-22. 
  3. ^ Philip Graham. "YouTube Playlist". RazorEyeYTC. http://www.youtube.com/playlist?p=PL4FD74E67A7C813FF&feature=mh_lolz. Retrieved 2011-05-21. 
  4. ^ Philip Graham. "Download Details". Voyager: Sounds Of the Cosmos. https://sites.google.com/site/voyagersotcoffical/download-the-album. Retrieved 2011-05-21. 
  5. ^ NASA. "Guidelines". NASA. http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/policies.html#Guidelines. Retrieved 2011-06-24. 

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