Warp Drive, When?

The Sounds of Star Trek

In 1938, Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre Company created a variety of sound effects and "eyewitness" reports that caused a nationwide panic in 1938 when they first performed "The War of the Worlds" over the radio. In October 1995, in the tradition of Welles, Telarc International recording engineer and sound effect designer Michael Bishop and sound editor Scott Burgess transformed NASA Glenn into a giant "recording studio". Working with Glenn's Noise Exposure Management Team and equipped with microphones and digital recorders, they sampled sounds at 14 locations across the Center that served as the raw material to create "Symphonic Star Trek" -- a collection of the series' most memorable music and sound effects.

Sound Bytes

The table below provides one sample of the "raw" sound recorded at a Glenn facility and the introduction to the "Symphonic Star Trek" project in which the sound is enhanced and used to create ambiance for the narration and music:

The Sounds of Star Trek
Raw Sound	Integrated Recording
Industrial Blower [RealAudio* (21K)] [WAV (900K)] [AU (900K)]	"Into the Final Frontier" [RealAudio* (32K)] [[WAV (14100K)] [AU (14100 K)]

*Requires a RealAudio player.

Note: More sounds will be added as time allows.

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Contents

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• Why is interstellar travel so tough?
• From Inspirations to Inventions
• Ideas based on what we know
• Ideas based on what we’d like to achieve
• Some Emerging Possibilities
• Links to Related NASA Activities
• So, can we do it?
• Frequently Asked Questions