Recording of "outer space" music heard on Farside by Apollo 10 crew

I don't know. Anyone with significant radio comm time, like military pilots, would know what it sounds like to induce VHF interference. It sounds funky, but you get accustomed to hearing it. Heck, the ATC guys describe it as being "Stepped on" all the time. It's a cool/painful whirring/squealing sound.

But a whooshing, musical tone. No. I could venture lots of guesses as to what it was. I mean, the earth was broadcasting all kinds of VHF freq's at the time and the moon could have refracted that around itself, and distorted the frequencies enough to make them sound vastly different. I just don't think these guys would have heard a form of VHF interference so different from what they've heard before to be concerned about it.

It's an interesting mystery.

a reply to: OneBigMonkeyToo

The video claims that they were hidden until 2008, but as this article makes clear the audio and documents were available to anyone who was prepared to put in some effort:

True. But because of secrecy laws many things *must* be de-classified at some point otherwise you'd have everything classified forever. Which doesn't fly in a...ahem...free and open society.

So the gov't does the next best thing with many of these - they bury it...often in plain sight. If you don't know what you're looking for, where and how to look and most importantly - how to properly request it - your info request can be legally and properly ignored or return info you weren't looking for.

They've been playing this game since forever.

a reply to: cosmania

I just don't think these guys would have heard a form of VHF interference so different from what they've heard before to be concerned about it.

It's an interesting mystery.

Excellent point!

Thanks for bringing it up.

a reply to: Riffrafter

Here's a link to another video released by CNN today purporting to have the actual sounds the astronauts heard....

CNN's NASA tape footage - video & audio

a reply to: Riffrafter

And again if you read the report, you could quite easily have found a paper copy of the transcripts by asking to see them. That's how a free society works.

This story has been floating around the web for over 5 years and documented in books by astronauts before that, but gee isn't it strange how much internet traffic it's getting now there's a new TV programme featuring it?

All that's happening here is that careful editing has constructed a story out of nothing and places like this are doing free word of mouth advertising for a TV show.

originally posted by: Riffrafter
a reply to: Riffrafter

Here's a link to another video released by CNN today purporting to have the actual sounds the astronauts heard....

CNN's NASA tape footage - video & audio

Stupid reader: "Nassau [yes, that's how she said it] technician thinks it comes from interference from two radios in separate parts of the spacecraft."

OK, here's how the mass media is garbling garbles piled on garbles.

The interference idea isn't about two separate radios in THE spacecraft, it's from separate radios in TWO different spacecraft tens of miles apart. Something the TV program never disclosed.

The audio of the description is matched to unrelated video, which showed all three astronauts together in the CM. The LM flyaround was flown in spacesuits, not coveralls [I -think- // need to double check]. Showing three men in the CM with audio of the noise would be deceptive if the producers had the brains to understand the truth, but I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they're just stupid.

How could there be a live transmission to Earth from the astronauts listening to the noise, when it was being heard above the far side of the moon, in RF blockage?

No wonder these stories sound so amazing, they are being fabricated by know-nothing morons.

originally posted by: Riffrafter
a reply to: OneBigMonkeyToo


So the gov't does the next best thing with many of these - they bury it...often in plain sight. If you don't know what you're looking for, where and how to look and most importantly - how to properly request it - your info request can be legally and properly ignored or return info you weren't looking for.

They've been playing this game since forever.

Not in this case, so cool your jets, spaceman.

Since the mid-1970s these files have been available to the public exactly where anyone interested would know to look first, and where the staff was eager to help any visiting researcher find exactly what they were looking for.

a reply to: cosmania

Or, it could have been something as prosaic as switching noise from digital circuitry in the controls, or noise from switching power supplies.

There are things they could have done to isolate it, I don't see any of that in the stuff I've seen online so far.

originally posted by: cosmania
...I mean, the earth was broadcasting all kinds of VHF freq's at the time and the moon could have refracted that around itself, and distorted the frequencies enough to make them sound vastly different. I just don't think these guys would have heard a form of VHF interference so different from what they've heard before to be concerned about it.

It's an interesting mystery.

They were on the far side of the Moon when they heard it, so it wasn't a distorted frequency from Earth (there were no transmission possible between earth and the astronauts on the far side).

That's why I mentioned before that it may have something to do with the interference being isolated -- i.e., the astronauts may have heard similar VHF feedback before (feedback from the two spacecraft), but maybe never all by itself without other background noise -- So maybe it was more noticeable.

a reply to: Bedlam

Thank you for the insight, much appreciated. My understanding is limited concerning this topic.

I'm genuinely curious as to how NASA was able to produce sounds of Earth (and other planets) in the video below based on your explanation.

I ask because the explanation given at the beginning of the video was my understanding of how it was achieved but, contemplating your insight has left me wondering if the information presented in the video is distorted or my understanding of it all is. I suspect it is the latter.

originally posted by: OneBigMonkeyToo
a reply to: Riffrafter

And again if you read the report, you could quite easily have found a paper copy of the transcripts by asking to see them. That's how a free society works.

This story has been floating around the web for over 5 years and documented in books by astronauts before that, but gee isn't it strange how much internet traffic it's getting now there's a new TV programme featuring it?

All that's happening here is that careful editing has constructed a story out of nothing and places like this are doing free word of mouth advertising for a TV show.

Well, if you read my OP, you can see that I've known about this for a long time - i.e. the paper transcripts. What made this different was that it was actual audio and video footage - big difference.

In any event - meh.

I simply presented something that I thought was interesting and many found newsworthy including CNN.

Your mileage may vary. Void where prohibited, etc...

a reply to: JimOberg

Not in this case, so cool your jets, spaceman.

Spaceman? What is your major malfunction Jim?

And BTW - unlike you I *actually* work in space related activities. For a living. Do you?

Since the mid-1970s these files have been available to the public exactly where anyone interested would know to look first, and where the staff was eager to help any visiting researcher find exactly what they were looking for.

Really? Says who?

You?

originally posted by: Riffrafter
a reply to: JimOberg

Not in this case, so cool your jets, spaceman.

Spaceman? What is your major malfunction Jim?

And BTW - unlike you I *actually* work in space related activities. For a living. Do you?

*Snicker

To save Jim the trouble and the possibility that people might think he was promoting himself, I'll post this:

jamesoberg.com...


Granted, that doesn't mean that everything Jim says should be blindly taken as gospel (sorry Jim -- I don't blindly take anyone's word as gospel; that's no reflection on you), but he has been on the front lines of NASA for some time now, so he has some insight and knowledge.

originally posted by: Involutionist
a reply to: Bedlam

Thank you for the insight, much appreciated. My understanding is limited concerning this topic.

I'm genuinely curious as to how NASA was able to produce sounds of Earth (and other planets) in the video below based on your explanation.

In some cases, they're receiving radio signals and presenting you with a sort of analog in the form of sound.

Many of the ones in the video are from plasma wave receivers. In essence, there are charged particles in space, and while they don't propagate pressure waves like a gas or liquid, they interact with magnetic and electrical fields which move them about.

You can pick up the resulting electric field changes on the craft's radio antenna, sort of using it for two things at once. It's not sound, though. They're picking up the motion of a few hundred particles per ml of space using an antenna, then converting it to sound with an amplifier.

eta: Mostly, it's hype to get you to buy it. If they had said "Music of charged particles being buffeted about by electric and magnetic field fluctuations", it wouldn't sell.

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

Thanks Soylent.

I know who he is.

What surprised me was how he acts. There is no excuse for rude or disrespectful behavior - especially the totally unwarranted kind.

He should be careful who he tries to bully or match creds with. You never know who is on the other side of the glass...

originally posted by: Riffrafter

Well, if you read my OP, you can see that I've known about this for a long time - i.e. the paper transcripts. What made this different was that it was actual audio and video footage - big difference.

The audio has also been out there for years - I linked to the AFJ site with it on earlier and here's another source:

archive.org...

afaik there is no audio of the sound because it was in their ears via their headsets, not in the spacecraft (though the audio itself is certainly noisy), and as they were on the far side there was no direct radio communication that could be recorded in Houston. There is no video of the event itself as again it happened on the lunar far side with no direct TV broadcast in progress and the 16mm camera was being used to film the surface.

You can also go find the mission reports and technical debriefs online and find that they reported a number of issues with VHF communications, although the radar ranging worked extremely well.

NASAWATCH has this today

nasawatch.com...

reporting NASA's own comment on the program:

The Apollo 10 audio clips were uploaded in 2012, but the mission's audio recordings have been available at the National Archives since the early 1970s.

It is an interesting story, but not as interesting as the TV prog is making out. NASA doesn't have to sell advertising space.

It's real Gas Music from Jupiter:

originally posted by: Lurker1
Two radios interfering with each other? Please.

The same sounds were recorded by Cassini at Saturn, so there has to be another explanation.

The Moon's core acts like a loudspeaker with respect to the Solar Wind by distorting the field lines of plasma?

There may not be a magnetic field but the side facing the Sun builds up a strong static charge. So that's going
to generate some electric fields.

originally posted by: Riffrafter...

Well, if you read my OP, you can see that I've known about this for a long time - i.e. the paper transcripts. What made this different was that it was actual audio and video footage - big difference.

In any event - meh.

I simply presented something that I thought was interesting and many found newsworthy including CNN.

Your mileage may vary. Void where prohibited, etc...

I haven't seen any new video.

The videos are old live broadcasts, with new audio laid over it.

The result is a MAJOR misrepresentation.

The accepted explanation is of ship-to-ship VHF radio interference.

The video shows all three men together in the CM.

This makes folks think the official explanation is impossible.

originally posted by: stormcell

originally posted by: Lurker1
Two radios interfering with each other? Please.

The same sounds were recorded by Cassini at Saturn, so there has to be another explanation.

The Moon's core acts like a loudspeaker with respect to the Solar Wind by distorting the field lines of plasma?

There may not be a magnetic field but the side facing the Sun builds up a strong static charge. So that's going
to generate some electric fields.

The biggest issue you've got with this is that the "sounds" recorded by Cassini at Saturn were actually electric field signals from the plasma wave antenna. The VHF receivers on Apollo don't work the same way, and wouldn't physically be able to receive these sorts of signals. So what's heard on the VHF rig on Apollo cannot in any way be the same as what's received on the plasma wave experiment on Cassini. Apples, parakeets.