University of Gloucestershire grad to become first person to send radio show into space
Adam Stoner is a producer at children's radio station FunKids
A University of Gloucestershire graduate is hoping to make history by becoming the first person to send a radio show into outer space.
Adam Stoner, who's a radio producer at children's radio station FunKids, hopes to inspire the next generation of scientists and promote a better understanding of the need to protect planet Earth.
For the past six months, he and a team from FunKids have been building the technology to send a broadcast into outer space and securing a venue and contributors to take part in the record attempt.
Mission Transmission will launch a a 30-minute programme broadcast live on the radio station from the Royal Observatory Greenwich.
Adam said: “Last year was a massive year for space travel. We saw SpaceX launch the first all-civilian space flight and billionaires blasted themselves into the stratosphere. All of that was set against this backdrop of a global pandemic and doom and gloom around COP26.
“The purpose of this project is to inspire a new generation of dreamers and thinkers and fans of space and science and also to get children asking big questions about themselves, such as ‘Who are you?’, ‘What do you love?’ and ‘What do you want to be when you're older?’
“Some of the questions submitted by children are awesome. We’ve had everything from, ‘Is there spaghetti on your planet?’ to 60-second speeches urging peace and friendship and cooperation.”
The programme will include music that has been uniquely recorded to mark the occasion, contributions from NASA, the SETI Institute and children across the UK, and interviews with experts talking about what life in other parts of the universe might be like.
The programme will be broadcast to 10,000 of the Earth’s closest stars and sent as radio signal capable of travelling at the speed of light.
Adam hopes the project would make people on Earth think more about how they can contribute to helping to protect the planet.
“There's this phenomenon known as the Overview Effect", Adam explains.
“It’s something astronauts experience when they go to space and look down on Earth and realise that in all the blackness of space, Earth is our only home.
“In a small way, I hope that our broadcast does the same, and there is a fairly large section of the programme dedicated to the climate.
“We explain what climate change is, why it’s bad, and ways in which our listeners want to help, whether it’s collecting rubbish or creating new solar tech. That bit’s not really for aliens, it’s for us.”
Astronaut Tim Peak is set to launch the mission on February 21.