JPL-California Institute of Technology/NASA
A computer screen in the mission support area of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory shows Taters the cat in the first high-definition streaming video transmitted via laser from deep space.
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Flight of laser communication experiment NASA’s Psych Mission transmitted video to Earth from a distance of about 19 million miles (31 million kilometers). The short clip features a cat named Taters. This is the first time NASA has used lasers to stream video from deep space.
inside ultra high definition videoa playful orange tabby cat moves across the couch, chasing an elusive red dot from a laser pointer of all things.
This cat video was transmitted to Earth from a flying laser transceiver as part of the Deep Space Optical Communications Experiment (DSOC). Humans will push the limits of space exploration by going to places like Mars, and the technology could one day be used to rapidly transmit data, images, and video.
The 15-second video was encoded with a near-infrared laser and transmitted from the Psyche spacecraft to the Hale Telescope at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory. The video was downloaded at his observatory on December 11, and each frame was streamed live at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
At the time of transmission, the distance between the Psyche spacecraft and Hale was 80 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon. It took the laser just 101 seconds to reach each Earth.
The laser can transmit data 10 to 100 times faster than traditional radio wave systems used by NASA on other missions. The technology demonstration is designed as NASA’s farthest experiment in high-bandwidth laser communications and will test sending and receiving data to and from Earth using invisible near-infrared lasers.
“This achievement confirms our commitment to advancing optical communications as a key component to meeting future data transmission needs,” NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy said in a statement. “Increasing bandwidth is essential to achieving future exploration and science goals, and we look forward to continued advances in this technology and the transformation of how we communicate during future interplanetary missions.”
The Psyche mission, launched in mid-October, is currently on its way to give humans the first glimpse of a metallic asteroid between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The spacecraft will travel some 2.2 billion miles (3.6 billion kilometers) over the next six years to reach its namesake site, located outside the main asteroid belt.
JPL-California Institute of Technology/NASA
Members of the Deep Space Optical Communications team watch as the first video transmitted by laser from space reaches their computer screens on December 11th.
But the Deep Space Optical Communications Experiment is running its own mission during the first two years of its journey.
“One of our goals is to demonstrate the ability to transmit broadband video over millions of miles. Nothing in Psyche generates video data, so we typically use randomly generated test data. packets,” Bill Klipstein, DSOC project manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a statement.
“But to make this important event even more memorable, we decided to work with JPL’s designers to create a fun video that captures the essence of the demo as part of the Psyche mission. .”
The DSOC team collaborated with creators at JPL’s in-house DesignLab in determining which videos to test in deep space.
The video, uploaded to DSOC before Psyche’s launch, also includes a graphic overlay showing Psyche’s orbit, the Palomar telescope’s dome, and Tater’s color, breed, and heart rate.
“We were able to transmit video faster than most broadband Internet connections, even though we were transmitting from millions of miles away,” said Ryan Rogalin, head of DSOC receiver electronics at JPL. stated in a statement.
“In fact, after the video was received at Palomar, it was sent over the Internet to JPL, and that connection was slower than the signal coming from deep space. They did their job. Everyone loves Taters.”
Aside from the widespread popularity of cat videos and memes, the decision to include cat videos in DSOC’s milestones is also a nod to broadcast history. According to NASA, statuettes of the cartoon “Felix the Cat” were used in television test broadcasts starting in 1928.
The latest successful test of the laser experiment comes after the DSOC milestone on November 14th. Achieve what engineers called “first light.” It is a feat to successfully send and receive the first data. Since then, the technology demo has only improved, showcasing features such as improved pointing accuracy, which is critical when transmitting laser messages from space to Earth.
The laser’s high-speed data downlink speeds rival broadband Internet, and the DSOC team recently downloaded 1.3 terabits of data in one night. This compares to his 1.2 terabits that NASA’s Magellan mission sent back to Venus over his four years in the 1990s.
“When we reached first light, we were excited, but also cautious. This is new technology and we are experimenting with how it works,” said JPL’s Project Flight Operations Director Ken Andrews said in a statement. “But now, with the help of our colleagues at Psyche, we have become accustomed to operating the system and are able to lock onto spacecraft and ground terminals for longer periods than before. I am learning something new.”