Trioxia is a sonic fable in 3D sound of the evolution of human presence in Earth’s orbit. Starting in 1957, we humans have launched thousands upon thousands of objects into space. Trioxia uses actual orbital data and a fair share of the close to 5000 sounds in this piece are from recordings of various satellites and space missions. The compositional process involved creating the thousands of unique sounds using a mix of recordings of satellites and orbital broadcasts (from the private collection of the Swedish space researcher and radio amateur Sven Grahn) along with sound design using analogue sources ranging from camera shutters and miscellaneous noises, to pinging resonance filters and feedback.
Since the launch of Sputnik in 1957 space has mirrored large-scale political and social developments on Earth. At first, space was an arena to demonstrate power during the Cold War, with heavy investments by both the US and Soviet sides. In time, this led on to the commercial era – providing the means for radio and television broadcasts and overseas calls. Today space is a highly integrated part of society - satellites are at the heart of navigation, communications, cosmology, weather forecasts, monitoring of global climate, and so much more. But as the number of assets in orbit grows, so do the risks! For many space agencies, ensuring that collisions and space debris do not pollute near-Earth space environment, potentially crippling access to space completely, has become the highest priority. I made Trioxia to serve as an aural illustration of the ceaseless activity right above our heads. It is both as a tribute to our collective ingenuity and industry, as well as a heads-up on the potential for a cascading disaster that is accruing in orbit right above our heads.
