"It seems surreal," said will.i.am, who is also an actor.

He explained how Charles Bolden, the Nasa administrator, had called him to suggest beaming a song back from Mars as part of educational outreach efforts by the US space agency.

The song, which includes lyrics "I know that Mars might be far, but baby it ain't really that far", involved a 40-piece orchestra including French horns, rather than a more modern electronically-generated sound.

The 37-year-old, whose real name William James Adams, told a student audience that he didn't "want to do a song that was done on a computer," given that it was going to be the first piece of music broadcast back to the Earth from Mars.

"I wanted to show human collaboration and have an orchestra there and something that would be timeless, and translated in different cultures, not have like a hip hop beat or a dance beat," he said.

"A lot of times ... people in my field aren't supposed to try to execute something classical, or orchestral, so I wanted to break that stigma."

The aim was to inspire young people like those at the Nasa event, including some from Boyle Heights in East Los Angeles where the musician grew up, to take a greater interest in science.

The musician, who promotes science and mathematics education, was among more than a dozen celebrities who were invited to JPL to watch Curiosity's landing earlier this month. Others included Wil Wheaton, Seth Green and Morgan Freeman.

Nasa Administrator Charles Bolden addressed the crowd in a video message encouraging students to study science, technology, engineering and maths.

"Mars has always fascinated us, and the things Curiosity tells us about it will help us learn about whether or not life was possible there," he said.

Originally posted here:

Nasa's Curiosity rover broadcasts new will.i.am song from Mars