Curiosity ventured into new realms yesterday when it premiered a new Will.i.am song.

The Black Eyed Peas rapper’s tune Reach For the Stars was broadcast live from the surface of Mars, via Curiosity, to a news conference at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, yesterday.

The debut of the song, described as an ode to the singer’s “passion for science, technology and space exploration”, was linked to an educational event in which members of the Curiosity team explained the song’s transmission across space to students, as well as the rover’s overall mission.

The project is a collaboration between Nasa and the rapper’s i.am.angel Foundation, which aims to provide digital resources in classrooms from kindergarten to grade 12.

The foundation will announce a new science, technology, arts, engineering and mathematics initiative featuring the Mars Curiosity rover and other Nasa assets.

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