On the 40th anniversary of the day "Across the Universe" was recorded by The Beatles, Dr. Barry Geldzahler of NASA's Deep Space Network will trasmit the song into outer space. Geldzahler will trasmit the song 431 light years away, in an attempt to find life on other planets.

Travelling at 186,000 miles per second, it will take centuries for "Across the Universe" to reach its destination, the North Star.

NASA is also requesting that Beatles fans around the globe play the song at the exact same time they press the "transmit" button, at 2pm GMT (7pm EST) on Monday, February 4. They hope that this additional noise "clutter" might also reach intelligent alien life.

NASA has broadcast Beatles' tunes into space before, but on low-power transmissions to the International Space Station. This will mark the first time that any song has been transmitted into deep space.

Geldzahler said, "I've been a Beatles fan for 45 years - as long as the DSN has been around. What a joy this is, especially considering that Across the Universe is my personal favourite Beatles song."

"Across the Universe" was written in 1967, mainly by John Lennon with some minor contributions by Paul McCartney.

Upon learning of the news Thursday, Paul McCartney sent a message to DSN's headquarters at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, which read:

Amazing! Well done NASA! Send my love to the aliens. All the best, Paul."

NASA's DSN not only controls transmitting sound to deep space and listening out for alien communication, but also control spacecraft on long-range missions that have been launched to Mars, Venus, and deeper space.