Easily the best thing about NASA’s just-unveiled Third Rock Radio is that it puts to bed, once and for all, the cliché about radio not being rocket science. (There is probablya hospital station somewhere that has long shut down the one about brain surgery.) After all, winning radio is as simple as finding out what strange alien life forms want and giving it to them. And a station powered by the government space agency just naturally takes things well beyond the next level. You can also have a lot of fun with the inherent irony in almost all band and song names on this station, as well.

Third Rock Radio is a joint venture between NASA and Houston radio veteran Pat Fant’s RFC Media, and programmed by rock radio veteran Cruze, with an eye toward publicizing the agency to its next generation of potential employees. The between-the-music content is updates on what’s happening at NASA, including interviews with staffers.

It’s not playing music you can’t hear anywhere else—indie-driven Alternative often seems like the most available online-only format—but it’s certainly one of the most fascinating, easy to grasp concepts in Web radio. It’s an instant contender for national/international brand status. And it’s been written up this week in all sort of places that don't usually cover Web radio (not unlike the AARP suite of stations unveiled earlier this year).

Here’s Third Rock Radio at 9:30 a.m. on Dec. 14:

Airborne Toxic Event, “All I Ever Wanted”
Nine Inch Nails, “Terrible Lie”
Civil Twilight, “Anybody Out There”
Duke Spirit, “Everybody’s Under Your Spell”
SR-71, “Right Now”
Arctic Monkeys, “Don’t Sit Down ’Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair”
She Wants Revenge, “Take The World”
Afghan Whigs, “Something Hot”
Hockey, “Too Fake”
Iron & Wine, “Walking Far From Home”
Black Keys, “Lonely Boy”