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Captain's Log Music Listings

Spirit Wake Up Songs Opportunity Wake Up Songs Spirit Cruise Songs

Music to Rove By

Image of Spirit's Mission Manager Mark Adler
Spirit Mission Manager Mark Adler kept the "Captain's Log" of rover tunes.
Link to Full Res
Spirit mission manager Dr. Mark Adler and his crew play the role of part-time deejays in addition to their list of ongoing rover duties for the Mars Exploration Rover Mission. Below he discusses the value of a melodious mission.

Music has been a part of Mars Exploration Rover operations since a few days before the Spirit launch, when we started playing songs in the mission control area to rouse the crew. We all had to come in at about four in the morning to support the launch preparations. The songs helped (so did the coffee). We went on to play songs for key events during the cruise phase, and then naturally continued the tradition established by Mars Pathfinder, playing rover wake-up songs every sol on both Spirit and Opportunity. Just like for launch, the wake-up songs serve not to awaken the rover, but rather to wake up and hopefully entertain the crew, who come in at whatever hour of the day or night they need to in order to monitor the rover activities during its day on Mars.

Image of Members of the Mars Exploration Rover team rocking out to martian melodies.
Members of the Mars Exploration Rover team rock out to martian melodies.
Link to Full Res
Do you really need to play music? Well, just try not playing a wake-up song now and see what happens. I forgot to play a song one day, and the subsystem personnel started getting ornery, wondering what happened to their song. Of course, I then corrected my egregious error and played a song. Once, one of the Lockheed Martin operators in Colorado, who listen to the music on the voice net, complained about not hearing the song one day because I forgot to turn on the mike next to the speaker. So now that's part of the procedure.

You can have a mission with no music. You can have a mission with no heart, no passion, no soul and it can still work fine. But then, what's the point?

Spirit Wake Up Songs

Sol Name Artist Comment
2 Good Morning, Good Morning The Beatles
3 Oh What a Beautiful Mornin' Rodgers & Hammerstein, from the musical Oklahoma!
4 Hail to the Chief James Sanderson, performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Presidential phone call.
5 Satisfaction Rolling Stones "I can't get no ...", Air bags not cooperating.
6 Get Up, Stand Up Bob Marley Lift mechanism actuated.
7 Da Da Da Casaca Brazilian song suggested by investigator from Brazil, Red Rover Goes To Mars student that week from Brazil.
8 Soak Up the Sun Cheryl Crow Laid-back sol.
9 I Can See Clearly Now Jimmy Cliff Picture taking sol.
10 Unchained Van Halen Cable-cutting.
Hit the Road Jack Buster Poindexter Backup on deck.
Turn, Turn, Turn Byrds Start turn on deck.
11 I Get Around Beach Boys Rest of turn on deck.
Round and Round Ratt
You Spin Me 'Round Dead or Alive, performed by Thalía
12 Born to be Wild Steppenwolf Egress! (Leave the lander)
Rawhide Riders in the Sky
Who Let The Dogs Out? Baha Men
13 Reach Out Four Tops First arm activity.
14 You've Got The Magic Touch Platters Touching arm down on Mars.
15 If You Love Somebody Set Them Free Sting Last engineering checkouts, turning the keys over to science.
Roam B-52's First drive on the surface.
Good Times Roll Cars
16 After Midnight Eric Clapton Crew starts Mars day after California midnight.
Trash Day Weird Al Yankovic Part of the sol dedicated to deleting contents of flash memory.
17 We Will Rock You Queen First arm activities and observations on a rock.
18 Sledgehammer Peter Gabriel Intended first Rock Abrasion Tool sol, though ran into problems later, to put it mildly.
19 S. O. S. Abba Objective was to regain contact with Spirit after a loss of communications. We did.
20 Baby, Talk To Me Strouse and Adams, from the musical Bye Bye Birdie Objective was to get Spirit to send data. She did.
21 Satellite Hooters A rousing lullaby for when we were trying, and succeeded, to get the rover to go to sleep.
22 We Can Work It Out Beatles Beginning debugging activities to get Spirit back to normal.
23 Start Me Up Rolling Stones Booting in crippled mode.
24 Flash Queen Clearly a flash problem, continuing to debug.
25 (You're The) Devil In Disguise Elvis Presley Continuing debug activities.
With a Little Help From My Friends Beatles Took a picture!
26 I Want A New Drug Huey Lewis & The News Trying yet another recipe for tracing the task, still didn't work.
27 Anticipation Carly Simon Seeing if the file deletes will do the trick or not. They did.
28 On the Road Again Willie Nelson "Can't wait to get back on ..." back to normal use of the flash file system, itching to get going.
29 Here Comes The Sun Beatles More normal operations, Mars Express coordinated overflight.
30 Lean On Me Club Nouveau Intended Rock Abrasion Tool brush sol, pressing Rock Abrasion Tool on rock, though activities did not complete.
31 I Wanna Be Sedated Ramones Very low activity to get the rover rested and ready for surgery on the following sol.
32 Wipe Out Surfaris 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 Francis Scott Key, performed by Beyoncé Color picture of U.S flag on Rock Abrasion Tool.
34 The Laundry Cycle: Pounded on a Rock Bobs First Rock Abrasion Tool grinding.
Bump N' Grind R. Kelly
35 Up Around The Bend Creedence Clearwater Revival Intended drive around lander to begin drive to crater. Didn't get anywhere though.
36 Stuck On You Elvis Presley Drive didn't work yestersol. We've been stuck here for weeks. Drive did work later that sol.
37 Proud Mary Creedence Clearwater Revival, performed by Tina Turner "And we're rolling, rolling, rolling on the river ...", first long drive, ended up being more than 20 meters (66 feet.)
38 Runnin' With The Devil Van Halen High-Gain Antenna problem that sol, no activities, song played late in the sol.
39 Hit the Road Jack Buster Poindexter Another long drive -- yes, this is a reuse of that song.
40 What A Wonderful World Louis Armstrong Mars, that is.
41 Open Road Song Eve 6 Driving song, though only did several inches of driving to position in front of rock.
42 Lift Up Every Stone John Hiatt Observations of the rock Mimi.
43 Livin' On A Prayer Bon Jovi Many sols tend to start with our fingers crossed.
44 Way Over Yonder Carole King Heading for that crater.
45 Touch Me in the Morning Diana Ross Touch and go sol.
46 Wake Up Little Susie Everly Brothers Generic wake-up song.
47 Dig Down Deep Hot Soup Trenching sol.
48 Working in the Coal Mine Allen Toussaint, performed by Devo Working in the trench.
49 Coisinha Do Pai Beth Carvalho Brazilian song played on Mars Pathfinder, played again for Carnival weekend.
50 Samba De Marte Beth Carvalho Brazilian song written by same artist inspired by use of previous song on Mars Pathfinder, this one is a "Mars Samba," also for Carnival weekend. Starts off "Hello NASA!"
51 Chariots of Fire Vangelis Appropriate for slow-motion races.
52 Cold As Ice Foreigner Needed to heat up the arm this morning since it stays cold in the shade.
53 Dust in the Wind Kansas Hoping to get a dust devil movie.
54 Big Rock in the Road Pete Wernick Drove up to a big rock (Humphrey).
55 Brush Your Teeth Cathy Fink Triple Rock Abrasion Tool brush on Humphrey (which looks like a big tooth).
Knock Three Times Irwin Levine & L. Russel Brown, performed by Tony Orlando & Dawn
56 Walking On Sunshine Kimberley Rew, performed by Jump5 Little afternoon stroll.
57 Rock This Town Stray Cats It was a rock day (no roll).
58 I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For U2 Spirit doesn't have a press conference today. (Opportunity does.)
59 One More Time Real McCoy Second attempt at long Rock Abrasion Tool on Humphrey.
60 Pictures to Prove It The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
61 Motor Away Guided By Voices Driving away from Humphrey.
62 My First Trip to Mars Atticus Fault
63 Anticipation Carly Simon Can't wait to see inside that crater.
64 When I'm Sixty-Four The Beatles Self-explanatory.
65 Point Of Know Return Kansas Hopefully final traverse to the rim.
66 Livin' on the Edge Aerosmith Driving up to the edge of Bonneville.
67 Top of the World The Carpenters Looking down into Bonneville Crater.
68 Kodachrome Paul Simon Picture-taking day.
69 Watching The Wheels John Lennon Not in a hurry, just sitting here.
70 Most of the crew has now shifted to an Earth-time schedule. As a result, there was no song played today for Spirit.
71 Beep! Beep! Louis Prima In honor of our X-band telecommunications carrier beeps with a hearty thanks to our telecom, Attitude Control, and Deep Space Network folk.
72 Landslide Stevie Nicks, performed by the Dixie Chicks Going through some changes as we begin to transition to the extended mission.
73 Rocky Road to Dublin Paddy Reilly St. Patrick's Day.
74 Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? Chicago As we transition to the extended mission, some of the crew is on Mars time, some are on Earth time, and some are just not sure.
75 King Of The Road Roger Miller Cruisin' the crater rim super-highway.
76 Just One Look Linda Ronstadt Just one look at the rock Mazatzal.
77 One Step Closer Doobie Brothers Approach to Mazatzal.
78 Smooth Operator Sade To honor our sequence integration engineers and their incredible string of error-free sequences.
79 Freeze-Frame The J. Geils Band Photo shoot of our sites on Mazatzal.
80 Open the Door Otis Redding In honor of Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer doors stuck partially open yesterday, and trying again today.
81 Boy from New York City The Manhattan Transfer In honor of our grind on New York.
82 Shifting Sand Caedmon's Call For all of the fascinating sand dunes and hollows we see.
83 No Sleep Till Brooklyn Beastie Boys Rock Abrasion Tool target today is Brooklyn.
84 Hawaii Five-O (theme song) The Ventures Continuing the geographic theme, today's Microscopic Imager target is Hawaii.
85 California Sun Ramones Celebrating the crew's triumphant return to Earth time.
86 The Andy Griffith Theme Andy Griffith In honor of our state-named targets in wholesome places.
87 Hold Tight, Hold Tight (Want Some Sea Food Mama) The Andrews Sisters In honor of our first wild ride down the slopes of Bonneville.
88 Steppin' Out Joe Jackson Leaving Bonneville.
90 After Midnight Eric Clapton In recognition of a successful week on Earth time for just about everyone except the mission control operator and the flight director. The flight director chose the song.
91 Route 66 Chuck Berry Approach to the rock Route 66.
92 I Touch Myself The Divinyls Arm on magnets.
93 Glorious Day Weezer
94 Kodachrome Paul Simon "I love to photograph
So mama don't take my Kodachrome away"
95 The Rover Led Zeppelin
97 Red River Blues Jorma Kaukonen
98 Where Is My Mind The Pixies Software transplant.
107 Hole in My Life The Police For where we were that day: Missoula Crater.
108 Race Against Myself The Offspring We were planning to pass the 1 km mark on Spirit that day, which we did, and Opportunity didn't seem to be in the race.
109 Riding in My Car Woody Guthrie
110 Margaritaville Jimmy Buffett Regards to a certain wager between the science teams on which rover would hit a kilometer first.
113 Grazin' in the Grass Friends of Distinction In preparation for a day of  soil science and trench digging.
126 Hot Rod Lincoln Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen In honor of our record-setting drive.
138 A View To A Kill Duran Duran In honor of the fatal.

Opportunity Wake Up Songs

Sol Name Artist Comment
2 Happy Together Turtles First full sol with both rovers on Mars
3 Spirit of Radio Rush High-Gain Antenna Release
4 Another Day in Paradise Phil Collins
5 Stand R.E.M. Standup
I'm Still Standing Elton John
6 Lookin' Out My Back Door Creedence Clearwater Revival Middle wheel release
Release Me Elvis Presley
7 Born to Run Bruce Springsteen Wake up
I'm Free The Who Cable cut #3
Going Mobile The Who Egress (leave the lander)
8 You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet Bachman-Turner Overdrive First dual surface nominal rover operation.
(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay Otis Redding Mostly a laid-back day after egress.
9 I'm Coming Out Diana Ross Instrument Deployment (Arm) Device release.
10 Pictures of You The Cure First Microscopic Imager image.
11 Is There Something I Should Know? Duran Duran First Mössbauer Spectrometer data readout of soil.
12 Leaving Here Motörhead First drive since egress (leaving the lander).
13 Little Honda (aka First Gear) Beach Boys 3rd gear drive (1st - egress, 2nd - jaunt away from lander).
14 Should I Stay or Should I Go The Clash We went.
15 The Flintstones Theme Song End credits, Version 2 from 1962 For the arrival at the bedrock.
16 Slip Slidin' Away Paul Simon Large slips along drive up to the outcrop.
17 Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go Wham! Touch and go.
18 Runnin' Down a Dream Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Drive along the outcrop.
19 Here I Go Again Whitesnake Repeat of sol 18 drive objective.
20 I Like Dirt Red Hot Chili Peppers Microscopic Imager / Mössbauer Spectrometer and drive.
The Pioneers of Mars Karen Linsley and Lloyd Landa
21 Send Me On My Way Rusted Root Drive back to El Capitan.
Desert Drive Tangerine Dream
22 Invisible Touch Genesis Microscopic Imager - Mössbauer Spectrometer placement.
23 Spinning Wheel Blood, Sweat & Tears Right front trenching wheel.
24 Trench Town Rock Bob Marley Make use of the trench.
25 (Keep Feelin') Fascination The Human League Regarding the image return from the trench.
26 Body Movin' Beastie Boys Every rover part exercised.
27 Touch and Go Emerson, Lake & Powell Touch and go!
28 I am a Rock Simon & Garfunkel El Capitan target assessment.
29 Riders On the Storm The Doors Heavy weather at Deep Space Network Antenna Stations.
30 Rock 'n Me Steve Miller Band 1st Rock Abrasion Tool on Opportunity.
31 Rock around the Clock Bill Haley & His Comets Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer / Mössbauer Spectrometer.
32 Let It Be Beatles Long Mössbauer Spectrometer Integration (no Instrument Deployment Device or Mobility).
33 Blueberry Hill Al Lewis, Larry Stock and Vincent Rose, performed by Fats Domino In honor of the hill in front of the rover.
34 Dig In Lenny Kravitz Rock Abrasion Tool grind on Guadalupe.
35 I Can See Clearly Now Jimmy Cliff Imaging possible drive directions outside of the crater.
36 Rock Steady Sting
37 Let's Go The Cars Drive from Guadalupe to Last Chance.
38 Have You Ever Seen The Rain? Creedence Clearwater Revival Opportunity found evidence of liquid water! (Press conference today.)
39 Bad Moon Rising Creedence Clearwater Revival Took images of a Deimos (one of Mars' moons) transit of the Sun early this morning.
40 Surfin' Safari The Beach Boys The microscopic imager went surfing across Wave Ripple.
41 On the Road Again Willie Nelson By request from Tuan Tran, a Mars Exploration Rovers team member, sure he'll be "on the road again" soon too.
42 Break On Through (to the Other Side) The Doors Rock Abrasion Tool grinding on Flat Rock.
43 You Can Look Look (But You Better Not Touch) Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Rock Abrasion Tool didn't manage to touch target yestersol.
44 Try (Just a Little Bit Harder) Janis Joplin Reattempt of Rock Abrasion Tool.
X-Ray Eyes Kiss Alpha-Particle X-Ray Spectrometer activity.
45 Eclipse Pink Floyd Phobos (one of Mars' moons) transit across the Sun.
Meet me Halfway Kenny Loggins Almost halfway though primary mission.
46 Berry Nice News Raffi Going to the Berry Bowl.
Huckling the Berries Country Cooking
For the Rubel (James Bond Theme) John Zorn
47 No Particular Place to Go Chuck Berry Stay at Berry Bowl.
That's Amore Dean Martin Phobos (one of Mars' moons) transit.
48 Jaws: Main Title and First Victim John Williams Approach to Shark's Tooth.
49 Fins Jimmy Buffett In honor of our target, Shark's Tooth.
50 The Dentist Bill Cosby In honor of the targets, Shark's Tooth, Enamel1, and Lamination. (Ok, this is really a skit and not a song. But it sure is funny.)
51 Song of the South Alabama
52 Rock Lobster B-52's 52nd sol for Mars Exploration Rover - Opportunity, hence the group.
53 Ice Cream Man John Brim In honor of the targets on Neopolitan: Vanilla, and Cookies n' Cream.
54 I Feel The Earth Move Carol King Trenching.
55 Climb That Hill Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Begin final climb out of the crater.
56 Fly Like an Eagle Steve Miller Band Attempt to get out of crater (didn't make it).
57 If You Don't Get It the First Time, Back Up and Try It Again J. B.'s & Fred Wesley Second attempt to get out of crater (made it!).
58 Come On Home Lambert, Hendricks & Ross Back to the rim of Eagle Crater to peek in.
59 59th Street Bridge Song (Feeling Groovy) Simon and Garfunkel
60 The Circle of Life Elton John and Tim Rice, performed by Elton John In honor of our Lion King pan.
61 I'm on a Plane Nirvana (groan) Opportunity is on a plain.
62 The Distance Cake New Mars distance record of 48.9 meters (160 feet).
63 (They Long to Be) Close to You The Carpenters Approach sol.
64 Stand (in the place where you are) R.E.M. Stand-down day for anomaly investigation (all is well).
65 Back in the Saddle Aerosmith Back in business after the sequence memory anomaly.
66 Bounce Bon Jovi In honor of the rock Bounce.
67 Changes David Bowie We changed arm tools 9 times today.
Beep! Beep! Louis Prima Didn't receive a beep the first time (sent another and got it).
68 Got To Go Back Van Morrison Backed off and reapproached Bounce.
69 Little Maggie Tom Adams
70 Truckin' The Grateful Dead Record shattering 100-meter (328 feet) drive.
71 Let the Good Times Roll B. B. King A nod from Opportunity to Spirit's successful 91 sols, and to many more "good times" on the many sols to come.
72 The Wanderer Dion & The Belmonts
73 Potholes In My Lawn De La Soul Trenching today, as well as for the various "holes" in Anatolia.
74 (What a Day for a) Daydream The Lovin' Spoonful Two long naps today in preparation for a busy day of Flight SoftWare file uploads tomorrow.
77 The Ocean Led Zeppelin
78 Wait Until Tomorrow Jimmy Hendrix All the files are up, but we have to wait for tomorrow for the software swap.
79 Teenage Lobotomy Ramones Software transplant.
80 Ripple The Grateful Dead In honor of the thing we sliced through when making our trench on sol 73.

Spirit Cruise Songs

Date Name Artist Comment
Jun 8, 2003 Get the Party Started Pink Day 1 of the Spirit launch attempts.
Tomorrow Martin Charnin and Charles Strouse, from the musical Annie, performed by Andrea McArdle Scrubbed due to weather.
Jun 9, 2003 Fly Me to the Moon Bart Howard, performed by Frank Sinatra Day 2 of the Spirit launch attempts.
Rocket Man Elton John
Riders On the Storm The Doors Again scrubbed due to weather.
Jun 10, 2003 Oh What a Beautiful Mornin' Rodgers & Hammerstein, from the musical Oklahoma! Day 3 of the Spirit launch attempts.
Light My Fire The Doors
Rocket Def Leppard
Final Countdown Europe This better be it ...
Fly Away Lenny Kravitz Launch!!
Spirit in the Sky Kentucky Headhunters Initial acquisition.
Jun 11, 2003 Stay Up Late Talking Heads Playing with the new baby.
You Spin Me 'Round (Like a Record) Dead or Alive Spin down.
Swinging On a Star Bing Crosby Star acquisition. The spacecraft's star scanner sights stars.
Jun 13, 2003 When You Wish upon a Star Linda Ronstadt Adjusting the star scanner threshold to hopefully make it work better. (It did work better.)
Jun 18, 2003 Take a Chance on Me ABBA Lander electronics reboot (lots of discussion before deciding this was ok).
Jun 20, 2003 Superman John Williams, theme from the movie, performed by the Boston Pops First trajectory correction maneuver. Navigators corrected the spacecraft's course.
Marching to Mars Sammy Hagar
Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me Elton John Completed first turn to keep solar panels pointed close enough the Sun.
Jul 17, 2003 Weird Science Oingo Boingo Instrument checkout.
Jul 20, 2003 Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season) The Byrds Series of eight characterization turns to improve navigation.
Fly Me to the Moon Bart Howard, performed by Frank Sinatra To commemorate the Apollo 11 moon landing 34 years ago today.
Aug 1, 2003 Disco Inferno Leroy Green & Ron Kersey, performed by Tina Turner Second trajectory correction maneuver. Navigators corrected the spacecraft's course.
Aug 8, 2003 Radio Head Talking Heads Switch from low-gain to medium-gain antenna.
Sep 17, 2003 Back Up and Try It Again Li'l Brian & The Zydeco Travelers Retransmission of Mössbauer diagnostic data.
Oct 28, 2003 Riders On the Storm The Doors Played back Spirit data from when she was off-track, when Opportunity was hit by the storm. Continuing to ride out the solar storm.
Nov 8, 2003 Wake Up Little Susie The Everly Brothers Putting vehicle to sleep and waking it up to clear a possible memory problem.
Dec 26, 2003 Burnin' for You Blue Öyster Cult Fourth and final trajectory correction maneuver. Navigators corrected the spacecraft's course.
Dec 29, 2003 It's Now Or Never Elvis Presley Execution of "Do Entry Descent Landing" command, preparing Spirit for landing.
Jan 3, 2004 Don't Worry, Be Happy Bobby McFerrin Two hours before landing.

 
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