NASA transmits hip-hop song by Missy Elliot 158 million miles for the first time

Space remains one of the great mysteries of our universe. Scientists continuously conduct experiments to unlock its secrets. In an innovative twist, NASA recently teamed up with rapper and singer Missy Elliott to send an inspirational message and one of her songs, "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)," to Venus on Friday, July 12. This marks the first time a hip-hop song has been transmitted via NASA's Deep Space Network, according to NASA's official website.

It took about 14 minutes for the song to travel to planet Venus, covering a distance of about 158 million miles, per CNN. The space agency sent the song via the Deep Space Station 13 radio dish antenna. It is located at the Deep Space Communications complex near Barstow, California, which is usually used for missions to trace spacecraft and also to send commands and receive data. The antenna is coincidentally also nicknamed, Venus, per IFL Science.

Elliott said in a statement, "I still can’t believe I’m going out of this world with NASA through the Deep Space Network when ‘The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)’ becomes the first ever hip-hop song to transmit to space." "I chose Venus because it symbolizes strength, beauty, and empowerment and I am so humbled to have the opportunity to share my art and my message with the universe."

Brittany Brown, director of the Digital and Technology Division, Office of Communications at NASA Headquarters in Washington, spoke about why they chose Elliot's song for transmission. “Both space exploration and Missy Elliott’s art have been about pushing boundaries." It is not known why NASA chose to send a song into space again. This is the second time they sent a song after The Beatles' song, "Across the Universe" which was sent to the North Star, Polaris in 2008. However, Brown said about Elliot's work, "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."

According to the statement, two NASA missions selected in 2021 will explore Venus and send data back to Earth using the DSN. The missions are said to be launched by 2029 and 2031. They are called DAVINCI (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging) and VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy). 

NASA is creating an 'artificial star' to launch it into space by the end of this decade. It is to enhance astronomical measurements and the mission is called, "The Landolt NASA Space Mission." It will cost about $19.5 million and will be carried out by George Mason University in collaboration with NASA. The goal of the mission is to help astronomers calculate the absolute flux calibration of distant stars.

This is the measurement of the rate of light particles, or photons, emitted by stars, which is difficult to measure otherwise. The scientists will be able to control the photon output of the new satellite so the star would become a reference point for telescopes to compare with the actual stars. Eliad Peretz, NASA Goddard mission and instrument scientist, and Landolt’s deputy principal investigator said, “This mission is focused on measuring fundamental properties that are used daily in astronomical observations.