Extraterrestrial music

Description/Abstract

This paper discusses how other worlds will sound, and what we could learn by listening to them. This is illustrated by transforming a range of musical sounds (including voices) to show how they would appear on other worlds, so demonstrating the physics involved and how our understanding of that physics can allow us to make predictions about sound on other worlds. Until now, the emphasis has been on how other worlds look, with space probes carrying sophisticated cameras, and documentary- and film-makers spending large budgets to recreate the scenery of other worlds accurately. Almost all space probes have been ‘deaf’, but if they had had microphones could they have heard distant storms, or been able to diagnose their malfunctioning vanes and motors by listening for ‘a funny rattle’? Could a probe listen for lightning on Venus, dust storms on Mars, or ice cracking and even undersea life on Jupiter’s frozen moon Europa? Could a Mars astronaut hear a rockfall behind her as she walks downhill? By demonstrating, through music, our understanding of how other worlds shape sound, this paper explores to what extent acoustics might be used to explore other worlds.