Odd homage to '2001: A Space Odyssey' sees 'Blue Danube' waltz beamed at Voyager 1
- Reference: 1748845753
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/06/02/waltz_into_space_project/
- Source link:
The aim of this project, named “Waltz Into Space”, was to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the ESA’s founding and the 200th birthday of Austrian composer Johann Strauss.
Readers may recall that Strauss’s signature work, The Blue Danube , featured in seminal sci-fi flick 2001: A Space Odyssey during the famous sequence in which a Pan Am spaceship docks at a space station. In case you’re unfamiliar, here it is:
[1]
[2]Youtube Video
[3]
[4]
Folks at the Waltz Into Space project reckon that the scene above means The Blue Danube is celebrated as “the ultimate Anthem of Space” and made a [5]mini-documentary to back up their argument. They assert the tune is worthy of being sent to the stars.
Humanity long ago decided on a playlist to represent our species to the universe, in the form of the [6]“Golden record” that rode along with the two Voyager probes.
[7]
The Waltz Into Space project is miffed that Blue Danube was not part of that payload.
So, on Saturday, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra performed the waltz, and ESA beamed that performance into space using the 35-meter dish at the Cebreros station – aka the Deep Space Antenna 2 in Spain. You can see the performance [8]here .
[9]ESA feeling weightless and unwanted amid proposed NASA cuts
[10]Europe fires up beefier booster for Ariane 6 and Vega-C
[11]ESA cuts the ribbon on 34,000-core Space HPC center tailored for space workloads
[12]ESA's Integral gamma-ray gazer gasps its last
Another stated aim of the project is to “Make aliens dance”. That goal is spurious enough that in its FAQ, the Waltz Into Space project asked if that outcome is likely.
The answer points out that the colossal size of the universe means it is likely We Are Not Alone, so perhaps some bug-eyed monsters will one day hear the waltz.
“The beauty of this mission lies in its boundless imagination and optimism,” the project wrote. “Music is a universal language – one that transcends borders, species, and even galaxies. If there are life forms out there, perhaps they’ll feel the joy, the elegance, and the rhythm of humanity itself, and maybe they’ll respond with a dance of their own.
[13]
“One thing is clear: The Blue Danube Waltz will finally travel to its rightful home among the stars proving that even across light-years, art has the power to excite, and unite.” ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aD12NFOHEtX_xYHVt_ZSYAAAAJU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpvOUnz4T7Q
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aD12NFOHEtX_xYHVt_ZSYAAAAJU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aD12NFOHEtX_xYHVt_ZSYAAAAJU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-7HpEZa5yo&t=3s
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2015/07/29/voyagers_golden_record_now_free_to_download/
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aD12NFOHEtX_xYHVt_ZSYAAAAJU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YPh5VGhLUA&t=4138s
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/08/nasa_budget_reaction/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/25/beefier_booster_for_ariane_6/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/13/esa_space_hpc_center_inaugurated/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/28/esa_integral_end/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aD12NFOHEtX_xYHVt_ZSYAAAAJU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
I had a similar thought... Imagine receiving that on Trumpistar 9. His High Wonkness of Orange would have a crisis.
I think Also Sprach Zarathustra had a better claim, but The Blue Danube feels like a more peaceful statement in case it ever gets intercepted
Ah! But has anyone heard the rest of that tone poem? It has a wonderful fugal section a little later, but no one seems to be able to get past the opening few bars, which is a shame.
Here's a performance [1]with all the dots (it's always good to see the dots, even when the orchestra is so large). :-)
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j79XrCDogp0
"it is likely We Are Not Alone"
We aren't. The [1]Hubble Deep Field experiment demonstrated without a shred of doubt that there is not a single point in our sky, to whatever point precision you wish to define, that does not have dozens or hundreds of galaxies in the distance.
So there are galaxies everywhere, and water everywhere as well. There is life out there, I have no doubt about that. The only real question is : how far away is it ?
I applaud this poetic effort. It was a nice gesture. Now explain to me how an intelligent civilization with a technical level equal to ours is going to be able to detect that signal from 20 light-years away and get anything meaningful out of it. Then, as an exercise, calculate the intensity of the signal 2000 LY away, then 20,000 LY away.
At what point does it become meaningless noise ?
I'm guessing that Alpha Centauri will already have trouble detecting the signal, not to mention deriving the music from it.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Deep_Field
Re: "it is likely We Are Not Alone"
And then maybe the small furry creatures on alpha Centauri prefer Pink Floyd anyway
I'll get me coat. The one with the cassette tapes of the HHGTTG radio plays in the pocket
Re: "it is likely We Are Not Alone"
The only real question is : how far away is it ?
The other is: is it able to appreciate music ?
Most life will be simple, aka bacterial. On what proportion of life hosting planets will life have evolved to be intelligent enough to receive the Waltz Into Space signal ?
Re: "it is likely We Are Not Alone"
> Most life will be simple, aka bacterial
Well, so far, out of all the planets we have discovered simple bacterial life on, at least one intelligent species has evolved.
Re: "it is likely We Are Not Alone"
To be fair, out of all the planets we have discovered microbial life on, 100% have intelligent life.
Re: "it is likely We Are Not Alone"
"Intelligent" by who's definition?
I mean we have had some great thinkers over the years - Plato, Newton, Darwin, Einstein, etc. But we also have Trump and now Nawrocki elected into positions of power, so the balance is tipping away from the "intelligent" label.
what the experts are saying
"I received your message and am turning around...I hope you have whales..."
V' Ger
"Flight of the Valkyres would not have gone over well if intercepted by those war-mongering Cylons."
ESA Exobiology
But think of the cost!
Just because you can does not mean you should, but sometimes, just because it is pointless does mean you still should.
This is the kind of (pretty much pointless) effort that has everybody wanting to join in, from the musicians to the inter-site comms team to the radio dish engineers. Except for the accountants.
Re: But think of the cost!
Anything to piss off the accountants
Re: But think of the cost!
The accountants still have to learn that "value is extremely hard to quantify" does NOT equal "value is zero".
Inspiring people has value. Hard value, even. Cash value. GDP value. It's just nearly impossible to put a number to it, but that number exists and is greater than zero, often greater than the easily-quantified number you spent to get it, sometimes a lot greater.
Yes, things that don't fit on a spreadsheet make the job harder. Well, tough. Time to earn your pay.
Make choices, of course, but you can't afford to ignore that profit outright, just because it doesn't fit on a spreadsheet. And I mean that "can't afford" in the most literal economic sense. Those who grab it will definitely put those who don't out of business. You see it happening all the time as uninspired companies grow creaky and eventually collapse. No reason to believe it can't happen to nations.
Right on Commander!
Who knew that Voyager had a docking computer...
One thing is clear: The Blue Danube Waltz will finally travel to its rightful home among the stars
I had thought that it had already been included on the Voyager Golden Record, but apparently not.
Let us just hope that the Blue Danube is not translated by distant aliens as a declaration of war. Unless their entire war fleet is small enough to get swallowed by a dog.
Mines the one with the dog-eared copy of "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" in it.