That Comet We Landed On Sounds a Lot Like the Predator
In 1987, a team of elite commandos dropped into a Central American jungle to rescue American hostages taken by a rebel force. Despite the heroic efforts of Dutch—perhaps better known as Arnold Schwarzenegger—and his squad, the hostages were killed.
But the real mission had just begun.
As they carved their way through the treacherous jungle to “get to the choppah,’’ an unseen enemy, with a penchant for growling and making ominous clicking sounds, killed them off one by one. They discovered too late that the enemy stalking them was an alien hunter on Earth with a few days to kill. As the last man standing, Dutch came face-to-face with the creature—let’s call it The Predator—and bested the space beast in a fight to near death. (“If it bleeds, we can kill it,’’ he’d predicted, correctly.) Sensing defeat, The Predator detonated a suicide bomb, killing itself.
Or did it?
When the Rosetta spacecraft and its Philae lander hooked up with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko last week, the world was stunned. The act of landing a craft on a moving comet 310 million miles from Earth was amazing, but what truly took our breath away was the sound.
“The day before Philae made history by landing on the surface of the comet, ESA released an audio clip of 67P/C-G singing,’’ wrote Iflscience!
“Unfortunately, its song is creepy as hell and sounds a lot like ‘Predator.’ ESA scientists altered the frequency of the comet’s song into human hearing range, and discovered it was a series of clicks that are very reminiscent of Predator’s growl.’’
While this could be interpreted as the most ingenious marketing ploy of all time—a new “Predator’’ sequel is currently being developed by “Iron Man 3’’ director Shane Black—one thing is certain (we hope): If it sings, you can’t kill it.
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