NASA announced that it used an advanced laser communications system to broadcast a video from space showing a cat called “Taters,” from a distance of 19 million miles (31 million kilometers) from Earth, marking a historic milestone.
This achievement is part of a technical demonstration by NASA that aims to broadcast high-resolution videos and other data from deep space, allowing future human missions to be sent beyond Earth’s orbit.
“This achievement underscores our commitment to advancing optical communications as a key component to meeting our future data transmission needs,” said Pam Milroy, NASA's deputy administrator.
The demonstration transmitted a 15-second test video, starring the cat "Taters" of an employee at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (after filming it and transmitting the video clips through advanced technology with a space mission), via an advanced tool called an "aviation laser transceiver." The video signal took 101 seconds to reach Earth, where it was decoded, resulting in the successful streaming of video from deep space.
The laser communications technology, launched with NASA's Psyche mission on October 13, is designed to transmit data from deep space at rates 10 to 100 times greater than modern radio frequency systems used by deep space missions today.
Space missions traditionally rely on radio waves to send and receive data, but working with lasers can increase the data rate by 10 to 100 times.
“In fact, after the video was received at Palomar, it was sent to JPL over the Internet, in a connection that is slower than the signal coming from deep space,” said Ryan Rogalin, project receiver electronics lead at JPL.
So why a cat video? There is a historical connection, JPL said. When American interest in television began to grow in the 1920s, “Statue of Felix the Cat” was broadcast as a test picture.
China plans to install a new telescope array in Antarctica
Xinhua Agency announced that China plans to install a group of new telescopes around Antarctica, and has completed the trial operation of the prototype of these telescopes.
According to the agency, the Tianmu group of astronomical observation telescopes, which China is working on a project to develop, will consist of 100 small-diameter and large-scale telescopes in the Antarctic region, with each telescope covering an area of the sky of 10,000 square degrees.
The designers of these telescopes at the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences indicated that the new telescopes will conduct continuous observation during the polar night every year.
The experimental model of the aforementioned telescopes was transferred to China's Zhongshan Station during the 39th scientific expedition sent by China to the South Pole, and starting on February 20, 2023, the prototype completed problem-free observations for 248 consecutive days, obtaining a large amount of data during the polar night in South Pole.
For his part, Zhou Dan, chief designer of the prototype from the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, pointed out that the prototype is considered the first Chinese astronomical observation instrument in Antarctica that relies on dual drift scanning device technology that allows the telescope to track celestial bodies without a propulsion mechanism.
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