A laser communications experiment aboard NASA’s Psyche mission sent a video back to Earth from 19 million miles (roughly 31 million kilometers) away — and the short clip shows a cat named Taters. This is the first time NASA has sent video from deep space using lasers.
In the HD video, a playful orange tabby cat chases, of all things, the elusive red dot of a laser pointer as it moves around the couch.
Video of the cat was transmitted to Earth by a laser transceiver as part of the Deep Space Optical Communications, or DSOC, experiment. This technology could one day be used to quickly transfer data, images and video as humans push the boundaries of space exploration by traveling to places like Mars.
After launching in mid-October, the Psyche mission is currently on track to give humanity its first look at a metallic asteroid located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The spacecraft will spend the next six years traveling about 2.2 billion miles (3.6 billion kilometers) to reach its namesake, located in the outer part of the main asteroid belt.
The DSOC team worked with creatives at JPL’s DesignLab to determine which video they wanted to test in deep space.
The video, which was uploaded to DSOC before Psyche’s launch, also includes a graphic overlay showing Psyche’s orbital path, the dome of the Palomar telescope, and Taters’ color, race, and heart rate.
The latest successful test of the laser experiment follows DSOC’s achievement on November 14, where it achieved what engineers called “first light,” the feat of successfully sending and receiving its first data. Since then, the technological demonstration has improved, demonstrating features such as the improved pointing accuracy so necessary when sending laser messages from space to Earth.
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