Momentum for space development is growing on a global scale.

The rocket company SpaceX, led by CEO Elon Musk, has been carrying out numerous missions since putting its partially reusable Falcon 9 rocket into service. The company now boasts the highest launch frequency in the world, and this has helped boost the number of rocket launches worldwide to 254 last year. This is a dramatic increase of more than 20 percent compared to the previous year.

In Japan, Honda has begun developing a reusable rocket, and it was reported just this June that it had successfully taken off and landed in its first launch test. However, despite Japan being described as a suitable location for rocket launch tests due to its geography, there were only five launches in Japan last year, far behind the number of launches by nations with advanced space programs like the United States, China, and Russia.

The Japanese company &Space Project aims to reverse this trend and expand the base of Japan’s space industry. The company has launched a new initiative in cooperation with Noon by Material Record, a research and development project led by the Nomura Corporation Group, which produces acoustic devices using sustainable materials.

This partnership has given birth to Debris, a speaker fashioned out of the tank of a space rocket. The design incorporates scrap parts from the test fuel tanks of the commercial rockets produced in the town of Taiki in Hokkaido.

Taiki is is a hub for Japan’s space industry and home to the Hokkaido Space Port, which is used by private companies and university research institutes around the world involved in space development. It’s also used by Honda for its reusable rocket takeoff and landing tests.

Debris reuses the waste material from Taiki’s rocket tanks as the cabinets for the cylindrical speakers. In typical speaker design, the driver unit that emits sound faces the side of the cabinet, making it easier to direct sound to the listener. Debris is unique in that the driver units are positioned at the top of the enclosure and are designed to emit sound upward. The sound is then deflected by a sphere mounted on top of the cabinet, which causes the audio waves to resonate in all directions. Listeners can experience Debris’ pleasant sound no matter where they are standing around the speaker.

The components of the sound-deflecting arrangement are made of space-related materials. One piece is an antenna-shaped object made of FRP resin, which is used in rockets and satellite parts. The other piece is a spherical object made of elements that make up the Earth—copper, iron, and aluminum—which have been melted down and reconstructed into a planet-like orb.

The spherical part was created by goldsmith Kazuhiro Toyama, a 2024 finalist for the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize. The beauty of the form, which depicts the oxidation and decay of copper, is intended to remind us of the life of the Earth floating in space.

Nomura Co. designer Hajime Oyamada says that he designed the speakers based on the question, “What is a musical experience that evokes the universe?” The sound produced by the Debris speakers is reminiscent of a soundscape suspended in zero-gravity space. He says the result is exactly what was intended by the concept.

The design is not the only thing that distinguishes this project. One of the major elements of this project is that Gonno, a well-known DJ and producer in the electronic music scene, has agreed to produce music to play through the speakers. Gonno captured field recordings of the environmental sounds of the town of Taiki, including the beacon of a rocket launch site at the spaceport. He recorded other environmental sounds in the area—cows on a ranch, swaying trees—and incorporated them into a 27-minute song. The soundscape of Taiki-machi, where technology and nature intersect, comes to life in this spectacular piece, which gains depth with repeated listens.

Debris is more than just a piece of audio equipment. It functions as a new form of expression at the intersection of space development technology and culture. Its sound, which evokes the dynamism of the space industry and the lives of the people who work in it, seems to symbolize the space culture of the future. The creators will continue to weave the future of the space industry into people’s lives and serve as a bridge between technology and culture.

This story was originally published by WIRED Japan. It was edited by Erina Anscomb.