NASA transmits hip-hop song into space for the first time

The stars above and on Earth lined up as an inspirational message and lyrics from hip-hop artist Missy Elliott’s song “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” were beamed to Venus via NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN). The agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California sent the transmission at 10:05 a.m. PDT on Friday, July 12.

As the largest and most sensitive telecommunications service of NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program, DSN features an array of giant radio antennas that allow missions to track, send commands, and receive scientific data from spacecraft en route to the moon and beyond. To date, the system has only transmitted one other song into space, making the transmission of Elliott’s song a first for hip-hop and NASA.

“Both space exploration and Missy Elliott’s art are about pushing boundaries,” said Brittany Brown, director of the Digital and Technology Division of the Office of Communications at NASA Headquarters in Washington, who originally pitched ideas to Missy’s team for collaboration with the agency. “Missy already has experience infusing her music videos with space-centric storytelling and futuristic imagery, so the opportunity to collaborate on something out of the ordinary is a real fit.”

The song traveled a distance of around 254 million kilometers from Earth to Venus – the artist’s favorite planet. The radio frequency signal, traveling at the speed of light, took almost 14 minutes to reach the planet. The transmission was made via the 34-meter-wide parabolic antenna of Deep Space Station 13 (DSS-13), located at the DSN’s Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex near Barstow, California. Coincidentally, DSS-13 is also nicknamed Venus.

Elliott’s music career began more than 30 years ago, and the DSN has been communicating with spacecraft for over 60 years. Thanks to the network, Elliott’s music has now traveled far beyond her fans on Earth to another world.

“I still can’t believe I’m leaving this world with NASA via the Deep Space Network when ‘The Rain’ (Supa Dupa Fly) is the first hip hop song ever to be transmitted into space!” said Elliott. “I chose Venus because it symbolizes strength, beauty and empowerment, and I’m so honored to have the opportunity to share my art and message with the universe!”

Two NASA missions selected in 2021 will explore Venus and use the DSN to send data to Earth. DAVINCI (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging), managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is scheduled to launch no earlier than 2029. VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy), scheduled to launch no earlier than 2031, is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. NASA and DSN are also collaborating with the European Space Agency’s Envision Venus mission. A team at JPL is developing the spacecraft’s Venus Synthetic Aperture Radar (VenSAR).

In continuous operation since 1963, NASA SCaN’s DSN consists of three complexes equidistant from each other – about 120 degrees of longitude apart – around the planet. The ground stations are located in Goldstone, California, Madrid, and Canberra, Australia.

The Deep Space Network is managed by JPL for the SCaN program within the Space Operations Mission Directorate, located at NASA Headquarters.

For more information about NASA’s Deep Space Network, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/communicating-with-missions/dsn/