Usually when NASA releases a video beamed from space you expect to see spiral galaxies or colliding stars. However, recently the space organization sent a video of a cat streaming some 19 million miles across the solar system from a spacecraft back to Earth, here’s why.
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00 [music]
00:03 Usually when NASA releases a video beamed from space, you expect something like this,
00:07 or maybe this.
00:08 But recently, the space organization sent this video streaming some 19 million miles
00:13 across the solar system from a spacecraft back to Earth.
00:16 But why?
00:17 Well, it's not about the video itself, but rather the method by which it traveled, namely
00:21 a new form of transmitting data called deep space optical communications.
00:25 NASA's Psyche spacecraft beamed the video back to researchers, showing not only one
00:29 of their cats, but it also included some information about the spacecraft's orbital path and other
00:34 technical data related to the laser communications test.
00:37 In fact, this video was sent in Ultra HD, but was still able to travel over a distance
00:42 greater than 80 times that of the Earth to the Moon in only 101 seconds, which the researchers
00:47 say was faster than their internet connection on our planet.
00:50 Where they initially downloaded the video, deep space optical communications work by
00:54 first setting up a beacon wherever you're sending the information, so the sender can
00:57 aim the laser.
00:58 The spacecraft then beams its signal to the spot using light rather than radio waves,
01:02 allowing for faster speeds and more information within those communications.
01:07 [music]