NASA Spacecraft Beams the First Ever Ultra-High-Definition Video Featuring a Cat From Deep Space
NASA exchanges data regarding coordinates, their missions, and other similar things with its ships in space. The latest message from one of NASA's ships in pursuit of 'Psyche' to Earth contains nothing like that, Science Alert reported. The contents of the message feature an adorable orange cat, that can melt anybody's heart. The message's objective is not just spreading cuteness though, it has been sent by scientists to analyze the state of communication during deep space exploration.
Psyche Mission
The ship in question was launched on October 13, 2023, to explore the metal-rich asteroid that orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, NASA reported. The asteroid has been named 'Psyche' and looks like the exposed nickel-iron core of an early planet. It is the first time scientists are close to analyzing a natural surface made of metal, and not of rock and ice.
Through the Psyche mission, NASA scientists hope to learn more about the violent history of collisions and accretion that created terrestrial planets. They also believe it will give them a picture of what exactly is present in Earth's core, an area that is yet to be accessed by explorers.
NASA's Deep Space Optical Communications Experiment
In the past, scientists garnered data from space with the help of radio frequency communication methods, NASA reported. The bandwidth that came with the past system is no longer enough for space experts.
Researchers are trying to find new and upgraded methods of communication because future space missions are expected to transmit huge volumes of scientific data. The data would contain high-definition images and video, which would not fit in the present bandwidth limits.
NASA has been conducting a series of optical communication experiments using ships like Psyche mission, to figure out an efficient way of transporting data to and from space. The first phase of this project is centered around laser signals.
Taters' Message
In December 2023, the spacecraft in pursuit of Psyche beamed the first ever ultra-high-definition video from space, featuring a cat named Taters, NASA reported. The adorable cat was seen moving around a sofa. The cat video was stored in the spacecraft's memory before launch, to understand how data transfer depended on distance.
"A key goal for the system was to prove that the data-rate reduction was proportional to the inverse square of the distance," said Abi Biswas, the technology demonstration’s project technologist at JPL. "We met that goal and transferred huge quantities of test data to and from the Psyche spacecraft via laser."
Exceeding Expectations
Researchers are happy with the results produced in the first phase of the experiment, NASA reported. Communication across higher frequencies is a huge achievement for the experts.
"The milestone is significant. Laser communication requires a very high level of precision, and before we launched with Psyche, we didn’t know how much performance degradation we would see at our farthest distances," said Meera Srinivasan, the project’s operations lead at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. "Now the techniques we use to track and point have been verified, confirming that optical communications can be a robust and transformative way to explore the solar system."