The first high-definition streaming video screen sent from the Psyche probe flying in deep space at a distance of 31 million km. screw provided
Video streaming (real-time broadcasting) between deep space and Earth, 31 million km away, was achieved for the first time in history. If this technology is established, it is expected that in the future, it will be possible to watch astronauts landing on Mars and conducting exploration activities in real time, like watching a sports broadcast, in high-definition color video. On the 11th, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) successfully conducted an experiment to transmit high-definition video to Earth in real time through deep space optical communication technology (DSOC) using lasers from the space probe Psyche, which departed for the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter last October. revealed. At the time of transmission, the distance between Psyche and Earth was 80 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon. The 15-second video shows a tabby cat named Tatus chasing a red dot on a laser pointer. The video was transmitted through a device called a ‘flying laser transceiver’ mounted on Psyche. The time it took to arrive at Earth was 101 seconds, and the transmission speed was up to 267Mbps. After downloading the data converted to near-infrared laser through the Hale Telescope at the Palomar Observatory of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in San Diego, California, it was sent back to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and played back as a video there.
Optical communication experiment planned for a distance of 390 million km over 2 years. Laser’s strength is that it can transmit data at a speed 10 to 100 times faster than existing radio communication systems. “Even though it was transmitted from millions of miles away, it was faster than most terrestrial broadband internet,” said Ryan Rogulin, head of receivers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “It was slower than a signal from space,” he said. “Increasing data transmission bandwidth is essential to achieving future exploration and science goals, and we look forward to further advances in this technology that will transform the way we communicate in future interplanetary missions,” NASA Associate Administrator Pam Melroy said in a statement. Previously, NASA successfully conducted an experiment using this technology to send the first data from a distance of 16 million km on November 14. Then, on the evening of December 4, transmission speeds of 62.5Mbps, 100Mbps, and 267Mbps were recorded, comparable to broadband Internet speeds. The data transmitted this evening reached 1.3 terabit. This exceeds the 1.2 terabits sent by NASA’s Venus probe Magellan over four years since 1990.
Deep space optical communication equipment mounted on the Psyche spacecraft. screw provided
Through Psyche, NASA will test the performance of deep space optical communications up to a distance of 390 million km, more than twice the distance between the Earth and the Sun, over the next two years. Currently, Psyche is cruising toward a metallic asteroid between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The probe will fly 4 billion kilometers over the next six years and arrive at Psyche in August 2029.
An illustration of the Psyche spacecraft exploring an asteroid. screw provided
Senior Reporter Nopil Kwak nopil@hani.co.kr
