Hypate Project

Project

Imagine a concert in which bells made from moon rock are tolled. Or some maracas in which dust from the surface of Mars resonates. What does music made with materials from outside our planet sound like? What would be the acoustic properties of those instruments?

At Traginer Music Research Lab we have set out to answer these questions. We know that wherever human beings go they will look for a way to make music, just as they look for shelter and food. In that sense we are not so different from those humans who tens of thousands of years ago carved flutes from mammoth bones or began to become familiar with ceramics. And now that Humanity is looking out into the universe, expanding the possibilities of planetary habitability, nature offers us a new sonic horizon. The Hypate Project was born to conquer it.

Research

During this research, we have managed to create small bells using different types of lunar regolith simulants and, in parallel, terrestrial ceramic materials. In this way, we can carry out a comparison of the acoustic properties between the musical instruments created. To reach this milestone, we have used conventional and unconventional manufacturing techniques, such as microwave sintering, spark plasma sintering or ceramic 3D printing.

The final goal, in the medium term, is to use real lunar and Martian regolith to give life to the instruments previously tested with the simulant. Perhaps in a few years these instruments will be used in concerts on our planet (or, who knows, on other worlds).

Thus, the Hypate Project articulates music, musical acoustics, ceramics and planetary geology with the purpose of opening the field of study for new disciplines, such as exoacoustics or exoluthery.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL University of Arizona

Team

Aware of the demands and breadth of vision that this research requires, we have formed a team based on academic excellence and experience.

The neurologist Oliver Sacks said that we are homo musicalis . Music is an intrinsic part of our identity as a species. Therefore, in the same way that the Greek muse Hypate personified the highest string of the lyre of Apollo, god of music, the Hypate Project wants to embody the human desire to discover the music that awaits latent anywhere in the universe.

Rodrigo Moreno Botella

PhD in Chemical Sciences
(ICV-CSIC)

Jesus Martinez Frias

PhD in Geological Sciences / Expert in Meteorites, Planetary Geology and Astrobiology IGEO (CSIC-UCM)

María Amparo Borrell Tomás

PhD in Materials Sciences · Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) · Institute of Materials Technology (ITM)

Rut Benavente Martínez

PhD in Materials Sciences · Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) · Institute of Materials Technology (ITM)

Ana María Barbancho Pérez

PhD in Telecommunications Engineering · University of Malaga(ETSIT · UMA)

J. Javier Laserna Vázquez

PhD and Professor of Analytical Chemistry · University of Málaga (UMA LaserLab)

María Rosa López Ramírez

PhD in Chemical Sciences · University of Málaga
(UMA LaserLab)

Enrique Martínez Martín

PhD in Education / Geologist with a double Master's in Communication · Camilo José Cela University (UCJC)

Pedro Barceló Cartagena

Drummer

Ana Felipe Royo

Plastic Artist

Carlos Traginer Gómez

Musical Instrument Designer / Hypate Project Coordinator

Cristina Castro Moral

Graphic Designer
(Sombras Blancas Art & Design) ·  TMRL Website

Paloma Recio de la Rosa

PhD in Chemical Sciences · Institute of Ceramics and Glass (ICV-CSIC)
Webflow Developer Nazmuz Shaad

Nazmuz Shaad

Webflow developer and
UX/UI Designer ·  TMRL Website

Carmen Alcázar Rodrigo

Industrial Technical Engineer / Industrial Chemist (ICV-CSIC)

Alfredo Bueno Salinas

Modeling and Casting Workshop Master · Specialist in Volume Techniques

Javier Tejado Mata

PhD in Advanced Construction Techniques Specialist in Acoustic

Carles Ribas Selvas

Industrial Designer

Felipe M. Oller Jiménez

Graphic Designer (TMRL Logo)

Quang Nguyen

Animator and Motion Graphics Designer (TMRL Logo)

Francesc Llop i Bayo

Anthropologist and Campanologist

Alejandro Roura Blanco

Editor

Partners

Institute of Ceramics and Glass

CSIC (Madrid · Spain)

Research Institute for Materials Technology

UPV (Valencia · Spain)

E.T.S.I. (School of Telecommunications Engineering)

UMA (Málaga · Spain)

UMA LaserLab

(Málaga · Spain)

REDESPA

Spanish Planetology and Astrobiology Network(Madrid · Spain)

Institute of Ceramics and Glass

CSIC (Madrid · Spain)

Regolith Simulant Provider

Space Resource Technologies

(Florida · USA)

Multimedia

Press Highlights

Congresses

XVIIIth Conference of the European Ceramic Society (ECERS · 2023)

Lyon (France)

XVI National Materials Congress (CNMAT · 2022)

Ciudad Real (Spain)

Video