Will.I.am to Stream New Song from Mars: Watch Live

Will.I.am & NASA: Song Debut from Jet Propulsion Lab, via Mars Rover

Will.I.am will debut his newest song with a little help from a celebrity science robot on Mars. "Reach for the Stars" will make its debut when it is beamed back to Earth from the Mars Curiosity rover.

You can watch a live stream of Will.I.am's Martian song debut in the player below: the action starts at 4pm ET/1pm PT on August 28, 2012.

It's cool to use multi-billion dollar space hardware to play music, but... Will.I.am?

Uh... Okay, I mean, I guess...

Why Not David Bowie?

Was David Bowie too busy, or did he get over the whole songs-for-space-exploration thing in 1969?

Relaying a voice message has already been done: NASA administrator Charles Bolden sent the following message to the Mars Curiosity rover, which returned it to Earth:

"Hello. This is Charlie Bolden, NASA Administrator, speaking to you via the broadcast capabilities of the Curiosity Rover, which is now on the surface of Mars. 

Since the beginning of time, humankind’s curiosity has led us to constantly seek new life…new possibilities just beyond the horizon. I want to congratulate the men and women of our NASA family as well as our commercial and government partners around the world, for taking us a step beyond to Mars. 

This is an extraordinary achievement. Landing a rover on Mars is not easy – others have tried – only America has fully succeeded. The investment we are making…the knowledge we hope to gain from our observation and analysis of Gale Crater, will tell us much about the possibility of life on Mars as well as the past and future possibilities for our own planet. Curiosity will bring benefits to Earth and inspire a new generation of scientists and explorers, as it prepares the way for a human mission in the not too distant future.  Thank you. "

No Total Recall quotes, no David Bowie. And now Will.I.am?

Oh, and "Reach for the Stars" won't be the first song played on Mars, because, in a glaring project-management oversight, JPL forgot to give Mars Curiosity a bangin' sound system.

At this very moment, Mars Curiosity could be cruising toward Mount Sharp with Elton John's "Rocket Man", or Social Distortion's "Reach for the Sky" playing. What about Jamiroquai's "Cosmic Girl"? Okay, that'll do for now.