Hip-hop living legend Missy Elliot made history again this month when she became the first artist whose song was beamed to Venus via Nasa’s Deep Space Network. The agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California sent the transmission at 10.05am PDT on Friday, July 12, according to the Nasa website.
Elliot herself was over the moon as she broke the news to her fans, writing on Instagram: “YOOO this is crazy! We just went #OutOfThisWorld with @nasa and sent the FIRST hip hop song into space through the Deep Space Network (DSN). My song The Rain has officially been transmitted all the way to Venus, the planet that symbolises strength, beauty and empowerment. The sky is not the limit, it’s just the beginning.”
The space agency explained that DSN “has an array of giant radio antennas that allow missions to track, send commands, and receive scientific data from spacecraft venturing to the Moon and beyond.”
The Work It star’s single is only the second song to be transmitted into space; the first was Across The Universe by the Beatles.
“Both space exploration and Missy Elliott’s art have been about pushing boundaries,” said Brittany Brown, director, Digital and Technology Division, Office of Communications at NASA Headquarters in Washington, who initially pitched ideas to Missy’s team to collaborate with the agency. “Missy has a track record of infusing space-centric storytelling and futuristic visuals in her music videos so the opportunity to collaborate on something out of this world is truly fitting.”
How far did the music travel and how long did it take? Nasa explained on its website that the song travelled 158 million miles (254 million kilometers) from Earth to Venus. It travelled at the speed of light; the radio frequency signal took nearly 14 minutes to reach the planet. “The transmission was made by the 34-meter (112-foot) wide Deep Space Station 13 (DSS-13) radio dish antenna, located at the DSN’s Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, near Barstow in California. Coincidentally, the DSS-13 also is nicknamed Venus,” it added.
As for why Venus, the answer is quite simple; it’s Elliot’s favourite planet. “I chose Venus because it symbolises strength, beauty, and empowerment and I am so humbled to have the opportunity to share my art and my message with the universe,” she was reported as saying at the time.