NASA: Cat rips into interplanetary communication experiment

Even in deep space, no one escapes funny cat videos.

An orange cat called Tatters was the star of a video sent back to Earth from 31 million kilometers away, as part of an experiment on tomorrow’s interplanetary communications.

Tatters is shown chasing a laser pointer dot in a 15-second video, which was transmitted not using traditional radio communications technology but using an infrared laser transmitter, an improvement that increases transmission speed by 10 to 100 times.

Thus, the broadband connection reached 267 Mbps, a figure similar to the speed provided by optical fiber. NASA.

Broadband transmissions are a necessary upgrade ahead of Artemis missions to return American astronauts to the moon. For the first time, high-definition video will be captured from space.

NASA’s deputy administrator, Pamela Milroy, said the success of the latest experiment “underscores our commitment to advancing optical communications as an essential component of meeting future data transmission needs.”

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Experience 11^Ha December included transferring data to and from the Psyche spacecraft, which launched in mid-October on a six-year journey to the asteroid Psyche, which is located in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

The vehicle carries a DSOC (Deep Space Optical Communications Technology Demonstration), a transceiver that sends and receives an invisible laser beam in the near infrared.

This technology speeds up the data transfer process but requires the beam to be directed with very high precision.

The signal took 101 seconds to reach the telescope at Caltech, where it was transmitted directly to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

The irony is that the Internet connection between the telescope and the laboratory was slower than the interplanetary transmission itself, noted Ryan Rogalin, a member of the experiment.

The 3-year-old Tatters belongs to Joby Harris, a member of NASA Studio who was asked to create the test video. The cat video was supposed to be a test, but it remained in the final broadcast.