First high-definition streaming video file sent by laser from deep space. Photo: NASA
A funny video A cat plays with a laser pointer It has traveled 30 million kilometers in space until a base is obtained NASAWithin the framework of an experiment, it has demonstrated the effectiveness of a laser communication system from deep space.
The high-resolution video, which lasts about 15 seconds, is scheduled to be sent on December 11 mental illness, a ship set off this year for a metallic asteroid of the same name. After that, the message arrived within 2 minutes Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the US space agency's record time.
The video shows Taters, a pet cat of one of the scientists involved in the project, in the company of other visual elements that explain various data about the technology involved in the experiment, such as Psyche's trajectory and technical information about the laser. According to some characteristics of cat.
Laser communication
All NASA missions, from Earth-orbiting satellites to Voyager beyond Pluto's orbit, use radio frequencies to send data back to Earth. This type of information takes an average of 2.56 seconds to travel the distance separating the Earth and the Moon.
However, with laser communication, scientists have been able to send information over a distance equal to 80 times the distance between our planet and its satellite and do it in just 101 seconds. However, with prior technology, it would have taken approximately 5 hours and 55 minutes to transmit a video of these characteristics.
“Despite being sent from millions of miles away, we were able to transmit video faster than most broadband Internet connections,” said Ryan Rogalin, head of receiver electronics for the project at JPL. “Actually, after receiving the video at Palomar, it was sent over the Internet to JPL, and that link was slower than the signal from deep space,” he added.
Extraterrestrial missions
In the coming years, scientists will improve this technology to make it possible to communicate with humans as they embark on interplanetary journeys.
“This achievement underscores our commitment to developing optical communications as a critical component of meeting our future data transmission needs,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy.
“Increasing our bandwidth is essential to achieving our future science and exploration goals, and we look forward to the continued advancement of this technology and change in the way we communicate during future interplanetary missions,” he added.
