Posted by Nate Jones on 08/28/2012 at 10:54 AM News

The Popdust Files: black eyed peas, Mars, mars curiosity, NASA, will.i.am

What does outer space sound like? Years of Carl Sagan documentaries have told us that the music of the cosmos is minimalist, melodic electronica, but starting at 4 p.m. EST Tuesday, all that is about to change. Instead, Will.i.am will take his rightful place as the Official Artist of Space, when NASA broadcasts his new song “Reach for the Stars” from the Mars Curiosity rover.

According to NASA, Will.i.am was chosen because of his deep love of space exploration, as well as the fact that he rode an elephant around a moon of Jupiter in the Black Eyed Peas’ “Meet Me Halfway” video.

As the Official Artist of Space, Will.i.am’s duties will include acting as Earth’s representative at any diplomatic space-talks, and shilling Target lamps to extraterrestrials. The position has remained officially vacant since David Bowie resigned in 1978, though Daft Punk filled in on an interim basis from 1998 to 2002.