A Public Sculpture That Sighs the Eerie Sounds of Satellites

Torrents of data rain down upon the earth every second only to be sucked up and translated by giant satellite dishes such as those at California’s Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex. What might these ethereal signals sound like, if put to music?

Residents of the L.A. area can hear it in person by visiting a strange NASA sculpture called “Orbit Pavilion.” Shaped like a massive seashell, the pavilion has a hollow interior that broadcasts the movements of 19 satellites. Listeners inside can hear the space vessels approaching and passing overhead as a range of naturalistic noise, from ocean waves to blowing leaves to the lonely howl of the desert wind.