A spacecraft in low Earth orbit singing a duet with the trees below sounds like a scene from a bizarre science fiction movie. But if a team of NASA scientists and artists can figure out how to make it happen, it'll be a real collaboration that could last two centuries.
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The teamup of trees and machine, a public art/science project called The Tree of Life, “connects Earth to space through a song, sent via radio waves between an orbiting spacecraft and an unlikely piece of technology: a collection of live trees that have been activated to function as large, living antenna systems,” according to a description of the inaugural project from the Space Song Foundation, a newly formed nonprofit dedicated to designing and building sustainable technology that supports long-range space missions.
Digital sensors will pick up changes in the trees' environment, and custom software will translate those data points into sound frequencies that are transmitted to the small, distant spacecraft. The spacecraft, in turn, will transmit data about its own operational capability.
The Tree of Life was launched as part of an initiative to design a possible future spacecraft to reach Proxima B, an exoplanet 4.2 light-years away that appears to be positioned to host life. Traveling that distance would take about 6,300 years with current technology, so scientists are looking at innovations that push the limits of technology. Artists are helping them do it creatively.
The artists involved with the Space Song Foundation could have chosen almost any object for the terrestrial part of their experimental communication system. So why trees? Because they (should) continue to exist for many decades and can tell a larger story about life on our planet.
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But while the trees are ready for the whole venture, the spacecraft at the center of the acoustic experiment has not yet been built.
Steve Matousek, director of advanced concepts at NASA JPL's Innovation Laboratory, says the team will begin testing prototypes based on the medium next year. With the hope of operating continuously for 200 years, the spacecraft would push the limits of technological obsolescence beyond the limited lifespans of the cell phones, tablets , and laptops that currently inhabit Earth.
The Space Song Foundation is currently raising money for Tree of Life on Kickstarter, where the project has raised more than $11,500 of its $15,000 goal, with three days left in the campaign.
If all goes according to plan, the first two trees will begin "singing" in public spaces in New York and Los Angeles, with speakers broadcasting the duet in real time. Funds raised on Kickstarter will go toward the equipment needed to connect the two trees.
Information source: cnet.com
