Imagine that you're a passenger or crew on board of a gigantic colossal interstellar transporter often travelling in excess of 4000 times the speed of light. To avoid exposure to radiation and potentially deadly interstellar dust impacts the vessel is protected by a no less than 12 meters thick solid metal shield hull. Also in the direction of flight there is a massively strong magnetic force field to deflect micro meteors before they hit the shield hull. The powerful thrusters run sequentially non stop. Firstly to get up to as high velocity as possible before then continuously retro thrusting as we pass the midway point on our journey. Due to the high acceleration and deceleration G Forces that effect the entire seven hour journey, therefore all crew and passengers are required to be strapped down continually. Also if we encounter any variations in the localised etheric density this can also produce sudden and violent turbulence.

726 "Going at 4000x the Speed of Light" GB - XYN - 23 - 00726

Meteosat Third Generation Sounder-1 (MTG-S1) is the second satellite launch in the MTG constellation and is equipped with the Infrared Sounder instrument. It also carries the Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission, which monitors air quality with its ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared light (UVN) spectrometer.


James Champion, ESA’s MTG Project Manager

Why do we need the MTG Sounder?

The Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission, part of the European Union’s Earth Observation Programme, will monitor air quality with its ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared light spectrometer. The mission will be able to provide hourly observations, in a breakthrough for air quality monitoring from space.


Simonetta Cheli, ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes

What is the role of the Copernicus Sentinel-4 spectrometer?

Launched in May 2024, ESA’s Earth Explorer EarthCARE mission has already been delivering remarkable data. Its four instruments have brought us groundbreaking insights into clouds, aerosols and Earth’s energy balance. The mission is being featured in an immersive installation called Hakuryu, which is Japanese for White Dragon, at the Living Planet Symposium in Vienna and here’s the accompanying sonification of atmospheric data downloaded from the EarthCARE satellite.

EarthCARE data transformed into a dragon’s song for peace

Every day, the Sun sends out bursts of energetic electrons into space. As these electrons collide with other charged particles, they produce radio waves—captured by the Radio and Plasma Waves (RPW) instrument on ESA’s Solar Orbiter spacecraft.

This track is a sonification of one six-hour data segment from a five-year dataset compiled by a team at Radboud University and Paris Observatory. Each drop in pitch represents electrons travelling further from the Sun, where fewer particles are left to interact with—causing the radio frequency (and now sound) to drop.

Listen for the distinctive “pyoong” sounds—real solar radio bursts, each starting sharp and fading low. The data has been sped up for your ears; that dramatic burst at the centre? It lasted three hours in space.

Credit: ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/RPW, sonification by Katerina Pesini
Acknowledgements: Philippe Zarka (IDL script), Alan Loh (Python script), Dimosthenis Bitzilos (video editing support)

Sound of a Solar Storm: Radio Bursts from the Sun

Medusa Tn - Harissa

Seas of the Sun is a film about a bold science mission and the people who made it possible. Hosted by Space Rocks founder and producer and co-director on Seas of the Sun, this series was produced by Philip Wilding, and with music by Karlotta Skagfield.

Missions notes episode 2: The science of Cluster, with Science Operations Support scientist Matt Taylor and Lucile Turc of the University of Helsinki. We explore the world of heliophysics and Cluster’s contributions to this burgeoning field of study.

See the full film on 30 October 2025: https://www.youtube.com/europeanspaceagency

Learn more about the making of Seas of the Sun: http://www.spacerocksofficial.com

726 "Going at 4000x the Speed of Light" GB - XYN - 23 - 00726

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