I love it when a PR effort reaches astronomical proportions. ;-) Satya
http://PanachePR.does.it/ <http://panachepr.shows.it/> On 2/1/08, Rick Archer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > NASA launching Beatles tune into space > > Fri Feb 1, 11:07 AM ET > > WASHINGTON - The Beatles are about to become radio stars in a whole new > way. NASA on Monday will broadcast the Beatles' song "Across the Universe" > across the galaxy to Polaris, the North Star. > > This first-ever beaming of a radio song by the space agency directly into > deep space is nostalgia-driven. It celebrates the 40th anniversary of the > song, the 45th anniversary of NASA's Deep Space Network, which communicates > with its distant probes, and the 50th anniversary of NASA. > > "Send my love to the aliens," Paul McCartney told NASA through a Beatles > historian. "All the best, Paul." > > The song, written by McCartney and John Lennon, may have a ticket to ride > and will be flying at the speed of light. But it will take 431 years along > a long and winding road to reach its final destination. That's because > Polaris is 2.5 quadrillion miles away. > > NASA loaded an MP3 of the song, just under four minutes in its original > version, and will transmit it digitally at 7 p.m. EST Monday from its > giant antenna in Madrid, Spain. But if you wanted to hear it on Polaris, > you would need an antenna and a receiver to convert it back to music, the > same way people receive satellite television. > > The idea came from Martin Lewis, a Los Angeles-based Beatles historian, > who then got permission from McCartney, Yoko Ono and the two companies that > own the rights to Beatles' music. One of those companies, Apple, was happy > to approve the idea because is "always looking for new markets," Lewis said. > > Perhaps coincidentally, the song's launching comes a day before the > release of the DVD of the Julie Taymor movie named after the Beatles hit. >
