Suggested Searches

6 min read

Lucy Soundscape

Are you a musician – composer, performer, music educator, or student – inspired by exploration and discovery? Share your inspiration in your unique voice, and join with others to create the Lucy Soundscape, a public collection of original music inspired by NASA’s Lucy mission launching in 2021!

The Lucy spacecraft will carry robotic cameras to places no one has ever seen: the Trojan asteroids, remnants from the formation of our Solar System’s giant planets, like Jupiter. In an epic twelve-year voyage of discovery, Lucy – named for a fossil human ancestor – will visit seven of these prehistoric treasures that hold the lost tales about the origin of our solar system.

Lucy’s team of scientists, engineers, managers, and other professionals have many stories to tell, in many different voices, but some stories are told best through music! NASA invites composers, performers, music educators and students to add their voices to Lucy’s.

The Lucy Soundscape will be the collected original music of everyone who participates and shares their creativity with NASA and the world, all connected to each other through the Lucy Motif:

Musical notation for Lucy mission
Lucy motif
NASA

Lucy Motif – high version – (MP3 file)

The Lucy Team composed and adopted this three-note phrase as a symbolic “musical mission patch.”

Any original music, composed or improvised, instrumental or vocal, that uses the Lucy Motif in some way to express a feeling or tell a story of inspiration and discovery can be shared through the Lucy Soundscape. Through the combined creativity of participating artists, all starting from the same three notes, the Soundscape has the potential to become an evolving musical ecosystem that develops in unforeseeable ways as the mission itself develops and yields unforeseeable discoveries.

Add your creative voice and join the Lucy Soundscape!

FAQs

  1. Yes, I want to participate! What should I do?
    First, get a little more informed about the Lucy mission at https://nasa.gov/lucy and http://lucy.swri.edu.
    Then read NASA’s Terms and Conditions for User-Generated Content.
    Finally, check out the Lucy Motif again and start getting creative!
  2. What music can I share in the Soundscape?
    There are only four important guidelines:

    • It must be fully original music created by you. No re-mixes, no derivative works, and absolutely no copyright-protected material by a third party.
    • It must use the Lucy Motif in some way.
    • It must be a recording of an actual performance or a digital realization. That is, the actual sounds; not sheet music. An audio file in a common format like mp3 is greatly preferred over MIDI or other formats that require additional hardware or software to play.
    • It must be appropriate to the Lucy Soundscape concept. No obscene, political, or otherwise unsuitable material. NASA and Southwest Research Institute reserve the right to determine what is appropriate and what is not.
  3. So how do I submit my music?
    If you wish to participate in the Soundscape post your original musical creation to a Social Media page with the hashtag #NASALucySoundscape as well as some indication that your creation and contribution is freely available for use by NASA and other third parties, like a Creative Commons attribution license (CC:BY), for example, and that you understand by use of the #NASALucySoundscape, you agree to the Terms and Conditions.
  4. I’ve got a favorite song by a favorite musician that would be great for Lucy; can I submit that?
    No, that’s illegal and not what we’re looking for. We want you to be creative, not to borrow somebody else’s creativity.
  5. Will NASA host a central archive of the whole Lucy Soundscape?
    No. You must put your music somewhere publicly accessible, where people (including NASA) can access it.
  6. Will NASA use my music somehow?
    Maybe. The Lucy Soundscape will co-exist with the library of music tracks that NASA can use for its videos and events. If something in the Soundscape fits a need, it may get used. When you agree to the Terms and Conditions you’re agreeing to grant NASA a non-exclusive unlimited use license. NASA will make every effort to give you appropriate credit on anything the agency produces that uses your music. However, since NASA products are free to the world, NASA can’t guarantee that somebody else won’t use it, along with your music, for some other purpose without giving credit. NASA takes no responsibility for that.
  7. Will NASA compensate me if it uses my music?
    No, but you’ll be credited, and NASA will do its best to contact you and inform you so you can claim bragging rights!
  8. What styles of music are you looking for?
    Anything! The most exciting aspect of the Soundscape is not knowing what different creative people will come up with, starting from the same seed. But please stay within the guidelines outlined in #2 above.
  9. Can I make a video?
    Sure, if you’d like. But it’s not necessary, and NASA is unlikely to make use of things other than pure audio tracks.
  10. Do I have to use the Lucy Motif exactly as written?
    No, feel free to transpose it chromatically to any other key (that is, keep the intervals intact – up a major seventh, down a major second), or alter the rhythm as long as it’s still recognizable.
  11. How will NASA make people aware of my music?
    For the content creators, their original music will reside/be housed on their social media platforms tagged with #NASALucySoundscape. Any public posts published with the hashtag can be heard, seen, and viewed. NASA will have the ability to post/use the selected music for the Soundscape on any of its digital platforms, including nasa.gov, SoundCloud, etc.
  12. Can I copyright and/or publish my music?
    Yes, you retain copyright if you choose to claim it. Understanding copyright law and copyright registration is your responsibility, however; NASA doesn’t provide advice on those topics. If you wish to participate in the Soundscape post your original musical creation to a Social Media page with the hashtag #NASALucySoundscape as well as some indication that your creation is freely available for use by others, like a Creative Commons attribution license (CC:BY), for example.
    As the Terms and Conditions explain, by submitting your information to NASA, you are granting NASA a free, unlimited use license. How you choose to share your music with the rest of the world is up to you, and you are free to post that licensing information along with your audio file. You are also free to publish your music personally or commercially, but subsequent publication will not alter the use license that you are granting NASA under the Terms and Conditions. However, since NASA products are free to the world, NASA can’t guarantee that somebody else won’t use it, along with your music, for some other purpose without giving credit. NASA takes no responsibility for that.