NASA's Tech Demo Streams First Video From Deep Space Via Laser 24
NASA has successfully beamed an ultra-high definition streaming video from a record-setting 19 million miles away. The Deep Space Optical Communications experiment, as it is called, is part of a NASA technology demonstration aimed at streaming HD video from deep space to enable future human missions beyond Earth orbit. From a NASA press release: The [15-second test] video signal took 101 seconds to reach Earth, sent at the system's maximum bit rate of 267 megabits per second (Mbps). Capable of sending and receiving near-infrared signals, the instrument beamed an encoded near-infrared laser to the Hale Telescope at Caltech's Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California, where it was downloaded. Each frame from the looping video was then sent "live" to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, where the video was played in real time.
The laser communications demo, which launched with NASA's Psyche mission on Oct. 13, is designed to transmit data from deep space at rates 10 to 100 times greater than the state-of-the-art radio frequency systems used by deep space missions today. As Psyche travels to the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, the technology demonstration will send high-data-rate signals as far out as the Red Planet's greatest distance from Earth. In doing so, it paves the way for higher-data-rate communications capable of sending complex scientific information, high-definition imagery, and video in support of humanity's next giant leap: sending humans to Mars.
Uploaded before launch, the short ultra-high definition video features an orange tabby cat named Taters, the pet of a JPL employee, chasing a laser pointer, with overlayed graphics. The graphics illustrate several features from the tech demo, such as Psyche's orbital path, Palomar's telescope dome, and technical information about the laser and its data bit rate. Tater's heart rate, color, and breed are also on display. There's also a historical link: Beginning in 1928, a small statue of the popular cartoon character Felix the Cat was featured in television test broadcast transmissions. Today, cat videos and memes are some of the most popular content online. "Despite transmitting from millions of miles away, it was able to send the video faster than most broadband internet connections," said Ryan Rogalin, the project's receiver electronics lead at JPL. "In fact, after receiving the video at Palomar, it was sent to JPL over the internet, and that connection was slower than the signal coming from deep space. JPL's DesignLab did an amazing job helping us showcase this technology -- everyone loves Taters."
The laser communications demo, which launched with NASA's Psyche mission on Oct. 13, is designed to transmit data from deep space at rates 10 to 100 times greater than the state-of-the-art radio frequency systems used by deep space missions today. As Psyche travels to the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, the technology demonstration will send high-data-rate signals as far out as the Red Planet's greatest distance from Earth. In doing so, it paves the way for higher-data-rate communications capable of sending complex scientific information, high-definition imagery, and video in support of humanity's next giant leap: sending humans to Mars.
Uploaded before launch, the short ultra-high definition video features an orange tabby cat named Taters, the pet of a JPL employee, chasing a laser pointer, with overlayed graphics. The graphics illustrate several features from the tech demo, such as Psyche's orbital path, Palomar's telescope dome, and technical information about the laser and its data bit rate. Tater's heart rate, color, and breed are also on display. There's also a historical link: Beginning in 1928, a small statue of the popular cartoon character Felix the Cat was featured in television test broadcast transmissions. Today, cat videos and memes are some of the most popular content online. "Despite transmitting from millions of miles away, it was able to send the video faster than most broadband internet connections," said Ryan Rogalin, the project's receiver electronics lead at JPL. "In fact, after receiving the video at Palomar, it was sent to JPL over the internet, and that connection was slower than the signal coming from deep space. JPL's DesignLab did an amazing job helping us showcase this technology -- everyone loves Taters."
Re: (Score:1)
That's all they could think of? (Score:4, Insightful)
Uploaded before launch, the short ultra-high definition video features an orange tabby cat named Taters, the pet of a JPL employee, chasing a laser pointer
The first groundbreaking high-speed deep-space data transmission was a lolcat video... History in the making.
Oh well, at least it wasn't a TikTok video...
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
... or a Rick Roll.
Re:That's all they could think of? (Score:5, Informative)
well, the first groundbreaking audio recording was a silly story about a lamb ...
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Uploaded before launch, the short ultra-high definition video features an orange tabby cat named Taters, the pet of a JPL employee, chasing a laser pointer
The first groundbreaking high-speed deep-space data transmission was a lolcat video... History in the making.
Oh well, at least it wasn't a TikTok video...
I really figured when we set up our spacenet, we'd try to avoid cluttering it with useless crap. Instead, we found it on useless crap. Don't get me wrong, I love cats, but I don't know that we need a wider distribution of goofy cat videos. They really want to engage the internet crowd, I suppose.
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It was just a dummy payload for a demonstration as anything else would have been spending money with a dependence on something that might fail. What other data could they have sent that would come anywhere near the quality of other instruments already in space without throwing a LOT more money into the effort?
Under these conditions the best secondary use is PR, and I guess they thought this would make the news spread further.
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Only because it wasn't vertically formatted. It's still a 15 second video and thus can be a "short".
Over/under (Score:4, Funny)
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Or, some future Enterprise and Capt Kirk will be tracking down a giant spacecraft hell bent on chasing stars, known mysteriously as T'Ter.
Uploaded, not live (Score:2)
I'd like to know what type or size of telescope is required to 'see' the laser.
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Latency (Score:2)
I wonder what the latency?
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"The [15-second test] video signal took 101 seconds to reach Earth"
So, if there was a round trip hop, I'd say 202 seconds (obviously this is a one-way protocol tho).
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That's ComCast [comcast.com]ic!
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Same as for radio. Divide distance by speed of light.
one small step for a man, a giant leap for PornHub (Score:2)
TIL JPL has a sus ISP connection (Score:1)
tech details (Score:2)
What it actually does, include 4 watt onboard laser (after digging around NASA and discarding flack):
The DSOC system is composed of three elements, all of which incorporate new advanced technologies:
A near-infrared laser transceiver, attached to the Psyche spacecraft, transmits and receives data through an 8.6-inch (22-centimeter) aperture telescope. The transceiver will transmit high-rate data to Earth using its 4-watt, near-infrared laser and receive low-rate data from Earth using an attached photon-count
Everyone loves Taters (Score:2)
Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a - wait. Sorry, wrong Taters, precious.
It wasn't from NASA (Score:2)
Wait until we find out the first alien transmission is just a cat video