NASA sent… a video of a cat into space. This is a test of the new system
Great scientific achievements are sometimes achieved by people using at least strange means. This time, the American space agency NASA was able to transmit data at the speed of optical fiber to a distant satellite. For this purpose… a video of a cat was used.
The Psyche probe has been in space for over a year, although it still has a long way to go to reach its target, the asteroid (16) Psyche, located in the solar system’s main belt. It will reach there only in 2029. But there is no reason to be bored during the flight, which is reflected in the latest NASA report. The agency boasted of extremely fast data transfer between the probe and Earth. To achieve this goal, she used… a video of a cat.
Faster than the Internet in Poland
As an article in Universe Today describes, the transmission system is reminiscent of how Morse code worked in the old days. The difference is that Psyche is currently almost 390 million kilometers from Earth, which requires appropriate measures. Thanks to the techniques used, the transferred material was sent there faster than the transfer to places more isolated from civilization in Poland. How was this even possible?
Psyche has a laser transmitter that also serves as a receiver tuned to a specific frequency of infrared light. On Earth, two ground stations in California are responsible for receiving and sending the signal. By using this technology, Psyche was able to receive and send data at a speed of 267 megabits per second. This is a result that some people in Poland could still envy. Meanwhile, we are talking about a distance comparable to the nearest point in the orbit of Mars.
Time for the second phase
At the farthest point Psyche has ever been, 390 million kilometers from Earth operators were able to maintain download speeds of 6.25 megabits per second. It may not look as impressive as the previous result, but it is still much better than the radio transmission speed with the same output power. Although it must be admitted that NASA managed to be a little relaxed in all this. After all, a video of a cat was used for the Psyche probe test.
The footage shows a cat named Taters chasing a laser pointer moving across a couch. With this memorable test, the team completed the first phase of testing the system. The second one will start in November, when it will be launched in full mode. It will be tested over the next years of flight. In case of emergency, a backup radio communication system was also placed on Psyche, although sending cat videos and other, less important data, such as research results on the mentioned asteroid, will be much more difficult. Especially at such large distances.
