The team at NASA is a peculiar group of Beatles fans. Driven by nostalgia and the random notion of a Beatles historian, NASA will beam a classic Beatles song “Across the Universe” to Polaris, the North Star. Why? Well, this year is the fiftieth anniversary of NASA, the forty-fifth anniversary of the Deep Space Network, and the fortieth anniversary of “Across the Universe”.

In order to complete this sky-high (literally) feat, NASA has prepared a MP3 file of the song that will be broadcast via the Deep Space Network antenna in Madrid. The MP3 file will travel near the speed of light and will make a twisting and turning trip through space to reach Polaris. The only problem is if any intelligent life form in 2439 (when the song will actually reach Polaris) would like to listen to this song, they will have to have both an antenna and receiver to convert it back to a listenable format.

The song will be broadcast at 7pm Eastern time from Madrid. Paul McCartney, co-writer of the song told NASA to “Send my love to the aliens” when asked for permission to broadcast the song. Yoko Ono, Apple, and another owner of rights to Beatles music also voiced their support to NASA. February 4^th has been named unofficial “Across the Universe Day” for NASA and Beatles fans across the world.