Is it true that cats rule the Earth? To verify new technology, NASA sent back a cat video from 31 million kilometers away

NASA used lasers to transmit video from deep space 31 million kilometers away in 101 seconds. This technology may one day allow astronauts on Mars to transmit images and videos to Earth at high speed.

NASA transmitted a 15-second high-definition video of a tabby cat back to Earth from deep space about 31 million kilometers away.

It took only 101 seconds to transmit a 15-second high-definition video of a tabby cat from deep space, about 31 million kilometers away. This is the first time that NASA has used lasers to transmit high-definition video from deep space, testing the use of invisible near-infrared lasers to send and receive data to Earth. This technology may one day allow astronauts on Mars to transmit images and videos to Earth at high speed.

NASA's Psyche probe was launched in mid-October to study a metallic asteroid between Mars and Jupiter. The probe carries a deep space optical communication flight laser transceiver, and the video is encoded in near-infrared lasers, which are transmitted by the flight laser transceiver to the Hale Telescope of the Palomar Observatory of the California Institute of Technology.

At the time of transmission, it took the laser just 101 seconds to reach Earth. The video was downloaded at the observatory on December 11. The laser can transmit data 10 to 100 times faster than conventional radio wave systems used by NASA in other missions. In fact, after the video was received at Palomar Observatory and sent to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory via the Internet, it was slower than signals from deep space.

The video features a 3-year-old orange tabby named Taters, who is playing with a moving laser dot. Unlike Taters' toys, the lasers fired into space are infrared and invisible to the naked eye. The clip of Taters playing with a laser pointer is the first in a series of experiments that the Psyche probe plans to conduct over the next two years. Malcolm Wright, laser flight lead at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said that as the spacecraft moves farther away from Earth, NASA scientists and engineers will attempt video transmission at greater distances, reaching the distance of Mars by mid-2024. After the holidays this month, they will conduct tests every Monday, and the next test will be conducted in January next year, when the Psyche probe will be 30 million miles (about 48.28 million kilometers) away.

Wright said the most important thing now is to demonstrate its reliability and robustness, "so it's not just a novel, one-off thing." Wright mentioned that using lasers is like using optical fiber on the ground. Of course, the challenge is that there is no optical fiber to space. The most difficult part is to aim the laser at the detector and let the transceiver know where to point it. Because the earth and the detector are moving, the laser must be pointed to the destination within a few minutes. But the beam is narrow and needs to be aimed at an exact location on the earth. "When you are moving at 17,000 miles (about 27,359 kilometers) per hour, trying to hit a coin from a mile away, this is the challenge."

NASA said it is already preparing for the next astronauts to use the technology. It will allow broadband video, scientific information and high-definition images to be transmitted back to Earth at high speeds from beyond the moon. NASA Associate Administrator Pam Melroy said in a statement, "Improving broadband is critical to achieving our future exploration and science goals, and we look forward to this technology continuing to advance and changing the way we communicate on future interplanetary missions."

Source: Tuchong Creative