Planetary Radio Live in London. This week on Planetary Radio.

Welcome. I'm Matt Kaplan of the Planetary Society with more of the human adventure across

our solar system and beyond. I'm back from the United Kingdom where, in addition to

walking about 30 miles, I witness the recordings of the Moon Symphony by world-renowned conductor

Marin Alsop and the London Symphony Orchestra. You'll hear my conversation with Maestro Alsop and

Moon Symphony composer Amanda Lee Falconberg. Amanda will then return for highlights of the show we did

in front of an enthusiastic audience at Imperial College London. And you'll also hear excerpts from

Amanda's magnificent composition. All that and will still announce two winners of Bruce Betts Space

trivia contest when we get to what's up. The inside lander could sure use a housekeeping service or

a convenient pass by a dust devil. Take a look at the dust coating one of its solar panels in the

May 27 edition of the downlink, our free weekly newsletter. It's no wonder the probes days on

Mars may be numbered. There's much more at Planetary.org slash downlink, including a story about

NASA's funding for further development of a cool new solar sail design. My wife and I flew

to London right after the humans tomorrow summit in Washington, D.C. By the way, I'll feature

H2M in next week's show. We barely had time to check into our hotel before we rushed to St.

Luke's, the old church that the London Symphony Orchestra has beautifully renovated as its home.

The recording of the Moon Symphony was already underway. We and others sat high above the orchestra, afraid to

move or make a sound as the music unfolded beneath us. It was quite a process with each movement

progressing a few measures at a time. Under the watchful eye of composer Amanda Lee Falkenberg,

conductor Marin Alsop led the ensemble through all seven movements, symphonic portraits of I.O.

Titan, Enceladus, Miranda, Ganymede, and our own Moon. Later, after the musicians had been released for the day, I sat down with Amanda and Marin.

My goodness, this was thrilling. Thank you so much to both of you for allowing me to witness this.

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