Mars Rover Soundtrack

The Mars rover engineering team works on Mars time. A martian day, also called a "sol", is 40 minutes longer than an Earth day. Each martian morning as the rover wakes up they play a song related to the events of the upcoming sol. Occasionally a second or third song is played during the sol in addition to the wakeup song. This is a tradition from the manned space program. Unfortunately robotic probes are not yet capable of feeling inspiration from music, but Mission Control is.

This page lists all the songs I know about, and the explanations. The frequently-repeated phrase "touch and go" refers to deploying the arm to examine dirt or rocks (touch) followed by driving away (go).

Spirit

The Spirit rover landed on Mars on January 4, 2004, sol 1. Its first morning on Mars was sol 2.

Sol Song Performer notes 2 Good Morning Good Morning Beatles 3 Oh What a Beautiful Mornin' Rodgers and Hammerstein 4 Hail to the Chief Mormon Tabernacle Choir call from President 5 Satisfaction Rolling Stones air bags not cooperating 6 Get Up, Stand Up Bob Marley starting to stand up 7 Da Da Da Casaca 8 Soak Up the Sun Sheryl Crow 9 I Can See Clearly Now Jimmy Cliff taking pictures 10 Unchained Van Halen cable cut Hit the Road Jack Buster Poindexter back up Turn, Turn, Turn Byrds start turn 11 I Get Around Beach Boys turning Round and Round Ratt You Spin Me 'Round Thalía 12 Born To Be Wild Steppenwolf egress day Rawhide Riders in the Sky egress command Who Let the Dogs Out Baja Men egress confirmation 13 Reach Out Four Tops first arm activity 14 You've Got the Magic Touch The Platters arm touches Mars 15 If You Love Somebody Set Them Free Sting last engineering activities Roam B-52s drive activation Good Times Roll The Cars successful drive 16 After Midnight Eric Clapton shift starts after midnight PST Trash Day Weird Al deleting contents of flash 17 We Will Rock You Queen preparing for RAT of Adirondack 18 Sledgehammer Peter Gabriel Intended first RAT application 19 S.O.S. Abba attempt to regain communications 20 Baby, Talk to Me Bye Bye Birdie musical 21 Satellite The Hooters telecom requested "a rousing lullaby" 22 We Can Work It Out Beatles debugging 23 Start Me Up Rolling Stones booting in crippled mode 24 Flash Queen it's a flash problem 25 (You're The) Devil In Disguise Elvis With a Little Help from My Friends Beatles 26 I Want a New Drug Huey Lewis and The News trying another debugging method 27 Anticipation Carly Simon did file deletes help? 28 On the Road Again Willie Nelson "Can't wait to get back on ..." 29 Here Comes the Sun Beatles Sun woke Spirit 30 Lean On Me Club Nouveau RAT placement 31 I Wanna Be Sedated Ramones preparing for brain surgery 32 Wipe Out Surfari file system reformat We're Not Gonna Take It Twisted Sister 33 Back In the Saddle Again Gene Autry back to normal operations The Star Spangled Banner Beyoncé flag picture 34 Pounded on a Rock Bobs RAT today Bump 'N' Grind R. Kelly "go" command to RAT 35 Up Around the Bend CCR planned drive around lander 36 Stuck On You Elvis drive didn't work 37 Proud Mary Tina Turner first long drive 38 Runnin' With the Devil Van Halen 39 Hit the Road Jack Buster Poindexter longer drive 40 What a Wonderful World Louis Armstrong drive to Stone Council 41 Open Road Song Eve 6 driving song for a very short drive 42 Lift Up Every Stone John Hiatt observations of rock Mimi 43 Livin' on a Prayer Bon Jovi 44 Way Over Yonder Carole King heading for a distant crater 45 Touch Me in the Morning Diana Ross pre-drive in situ instrument work 46 Wake Up Little Susie Everly Brothers "generic wake-up song" 47 Dig Down Deep Hot Soup trenching complete 48 Working in the Coal Mine Devo working in newly-dug trench 49 Coisinha Do Pai Beth Carvalho 50 Samba De Marte Beth Carvalho Song about waking up Pathfinder 51 Chariots of Fire Vangelis slow motion rover races 52 Cold as Ice Foreigner northwest-facing rover woke up cold 53 Dust in the Wind Kansas hoping for dust devils 54 Big Rock in the Road Pete Wernick 55 Brush Your Teeth Cathy Fink brushing dust off of three places on a toothlike rock Knock Three Times Tony Orlando and Dawn 56 Walking On Sunshine Jump 5 57 Rock This Town Stray Cats 58 I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For U2 no water press conference for Spirit 59 One More Time The Real McCoy 60 Pictures to Prove it The Mighty Mighty Bosstones complex pancam mosaic 61 Motor Away Guided by Voices headed for Bonneville 62 My First Trip to Mars Atticus Fault 63 Anticipation Carly Simon almost at Bonneville 64 When I'm Sixty-Four Beatles Sol 64 65 Point of Know Return Kansas to the edge of the crater 66 Livin' on the Edge Aerosmith 67 Top of the World Carpenters looking down on a crater 68 Kodachrome Paul Simon taking pictures 69 Watching the Wheels John Lennon 70 none 71 Beep, Beep Louis Prima dedicated to telecom et al. 72 Landslide Dixie Chicks 73 Rocky Road to Dublin Paddy Reilly St. Patrick's Sol 74 Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? Chicago some people on Mars time, some on Earth time 75 King Of The Road Roger Miller 76 Just One Look Linda Ronstadt 77 One Step Closer The Doobie Brothers another rock along the way 78 Smooth Operator Sade 79 Freeze Frame J. Geils Band 80 Open the Door Otis Redding APXS door stuck open 81 Boy from New York City Manhattan Transfer grinding "New York" 82 Shifting Sand Caedmon's Call lots of sand formations around 83 No Sleep Till Brooklyn Beastie Boys RAT target named Brooklyn 84 Hawaii Five-O (theme song) The Ventures 85 California Sun The Ramones return to Earth time 86 The Andy Griffith Theme target Missouri 87 Hold Tight Andrews Sisters "wild ride" down crater slope 88 Steppin' Out Joe Jackson crew on Earth time can go out Saturday night 89 none distracted by Earth time? 90 After Midnight Eric Clapton one week on Earth time 91 Route 66 Chuck Berry 92 I Touch Myself Divinyls rover examined itself with instruments 93 Glorious Day Weezer 94 Kodachrome Paul Simon 95 The Rover Led Zeppelin 96 none 97 Red River Blues Jorma Kaukonen 98 Where Is My Mind The Pixies 99-106 none 107 Hole in My Life Police at a crater 108 Race Against Myself The Offspring 109 Riding in My Car Woody Guthrie 110 Margaritaville Jimmy Buffet 126 Hot Rod Lincoln Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen 123.76 meter drive last Sol -- new record

Opportunity

Opportunity landed on Mars on January 25, 2004 (sol 1).

A livejournal page also has some notes on day by day activities and songs.

Sol Song Performer notes 2 So Happy Together Turtles two rovers on Mars 3 The Spirit Of Radio Rush HGA release 4 Another Day in Paradise Phil Collins 5 I'm Still Standing Elton John standup in progress Stand REM 6 Lookin' Out my Back Door CCR Release Me Elvis release of the robotic arm 7 Born To Run Springsteen preparing for egress I'm Free The Who cable cut Going Mobile The Who egress 8 Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay Otis Redding You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet BTO 9 I'm Coming Out Diana Ross 10 Pictures of You The Cure first MI image 11 Is There Something I Should Know? Duran Duran 12 I'm Leaving Here Motorhead first drive 12 Ramble On Led Zepplin driving 13 Little Honda Beach Boys driving 14 Should I Stay or Should I Go The Clash touch and go day 15 The Flintstones Theme Song, End credits, Version 2 from 1962 arrived at "bedrock" 16 Slip Slidin' Away Paul Simon wheels slipping driving uphill 17 Wake Me Up Before You Go Wham! another touch and go 18 Running Down a Dream Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers driving 19 Here I Go Again Whitesnake repeat sol 18 20 I Like Dirt Red Hot Chili Peppers Preparing to dig a trench The Pioneers of Mars Landa and Linsley 21 Send Me on My Way Rusted Root driving and observing Desert Drive Tangerine Dream 22 Invisible Touch Genesis touch (IDD deploy) 23 Spinning Wheel Blood, Sweat, and Tears digging with a wheel 24 Trench Town Rock Bob Marley post-trench IDD work 25 Fascination Human League close examination of trench 26 Body Movin Beastie Boys moving closer to El Capitan 27 Touch and Go Emerson, Lake, and Powell another touch and go 28 I am a Rock Simon and Garfunkel inspection of El Capitan 29 Riders on the Storm The Doors rain in Spain 30 Rock'n Me Steve Miller first RAT grind 31 Rock around the Clock Bill Haley and His Comets around the clock measurements 32 Let It Be Beatles 33 Blueberry Hill Fats Domino blueberry hill 34 Dig In Lennie Kravitz RATting again 35 I Can See Clearly Now Jimmy Cliff 36 Rock Steady Sting 37 Let's Go The Cars 38 Have You Seen the Rain? CCR water press conference 39 Bad Moon Rising CCR transit of Deimos 40 On the Road Again Willie Nelson special request 41 Surfin Safari Beach Boys 42 Break on Through to the Other Side Doors RAT trouble 43 You Can Look Look (But You Better Not Touch) Bruce Springsteen 44 Try (Just a Little Bit Harder) Janis Joplin re-RAT X-ray Eyes KISS APXS 45 Eclipse Pink Floyd Phobos transit Meet Me Halfway Kenny Loggins half of 90 sols 46 Berry Nice News Raffi target "Rubel" in depression full of blueberries Huckling the Berries Country Cooking For the Rubel John Zorn 47 No Particular Place to Go Chuck Berry Still in the crater... That's Amore Dean Martin "when the moon hits your eye..." (transit) 48 Jaws: Main Title and First Victim John Williams Driving to "shark's tooth" 49 Fins Jimmy Buffet reached shark's tooth 50 The Dentist Bill Cosby drillng the tooth 51 Song of the South Alabama exploring south end of crater 52 Rock Lobster B-52s Sol 52 53 Ice Cream Man John Brim 54 I Feel the Earth Move Carole King trenching 55 Climb that Hill Tom Petty climbing out of Eagle Crater 56 Fly Like an Eagle Steve Miller Band trying to get out of the crater 57 If You Don't Get it the First Time, Back Up and Try It Again The J. B.'s & Fred Wesley 58 Come On Home Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross 59 59th Street Bridge Song Simon and Garfunkel waiting for batteries to recharge; sol 59 60 The Circle of Life Elton John Lion King themed target names 61 I'm on a Plane Nirvana 62 The Distance Cake longest drive so far 63 Close to You The Carpenters 64 Stand (in the place where you are) REM anomaly 65 Back in the Saddle Gene Autry recovered from anomaly 66 Bounce Bon Jovia Bounce Rock 67 Changes David Bowie 9 IDD tool changes today Beep! Beep! Louis Prima received a beep after comm. trouble 68 Got To Go Back Van Morrison backing up the rover 69 Little Maggie Tom Adams target Maggie 70 Truckin' Grateful Dead 100 meter drive Back from Mars Aqua end of Mars time 71 Let the Good Times Roll B. B. King 72 The Wanderer Dion and the Belmonts 73 Potholes in My Lawn De La Soul 74 (What a Day for a) Daydream Lovin' Spoonful sleeping, waiting for busy day uploading 75-76 none? 77 The Ocean Led Zeppelin 78 Wait Until Tomorrow Jimmy Hendrix installing new flight software 79 Teenage Lobotomy Ramones new flight software 80 Ripple Grateful Dead dug a trench through a wind ripple 81 Go Your Own Way Fleetwood Mac autonomous navigation 82 I Would Walk 500 Miles Less Than Jake long drive to Fram Crater 83 Can't Turn You Loose Blues Brothers 84 Closer to Free Bodeans closer to (at) Fram Crater 85 Take Me Out to the Ball Game Jack Norworth baseball related target names 86-88 none 89 Low Rider War

ATSNN.com has a page discussing the MER songs.

This page by John Carr.

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