NASA’s Orbit Pavilion sound experience

Satellites that study the Earth are passing through space continuously, collecting data on everything from hurricanes to the effects of drought. What if you could make contact with these orbiting spacecraft, and bring them “down to Earth?” 

You can do exactly that at NASA’s Orbit Pavilion sound experience at the Huntington Library.  The outdoor installation is the brainchild of visual strategists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory who worked in collaboration with composer Shane Myrbeck and architect Jason Klimoski  to produce a “soundscape” experience representing the movement of the International Space Station and 19 Earth Science satellites.

Inside the large, shell-shaped sculpture, distinctive sounds are emitted as each satellite passes overhead: a human voice, the crashing of a wave, a tree branch moving, a frog croaking. Each sound interprets one of the satellites’ missions.