Video With a Cat Conquered Space: NASA Transmitted a Video Clip 31 Million Kilometres Away

NASA succeeded in transmitting high-definition streaming video from a space probe to Earth using a prototype laser communication. The video, featuring a cat named Teeters, was transmitted over a distance of 31 million kilometers, approximately 80 times the distance between Earth and the Moon.

This information is stated on NASA's official page.

The test video, lasting only 15 seconds, was transmitted using an advanced device called the 'flight laser transceiver.' Thanks to the technology, the video signal reached Earth in 101 seconds and was transmitted at a maximum speed of 267 megabits per second.

"This accomplishment underscores our commitment to advancing optical communications as a key element to meeting our future data transmission needs. Increasing our bandwidth is essential to achieving our future exploration and science goals, and we look forward to the continued advancement of this technology and the transformation of how we communicate during future interplanetary missions," emphasized NASA Deputy Head Pem Melroy.

Initially, the device transmitted a so-called encoded laser signal to the Hale Telescope located at the Palomar Observatory of the California Institute of Technology in San Diego County, California. From there, the signal was directly uploaded to Earth. Afterward, the cat video was sent frame by frame to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, where it was reproduced in real-time.

It is worth noting that the first demonstration of laser communication technology was launched alongside NASA's "Psyche" mission on October 13, 2023. The laser communication technology aims to enable data transmission from distant space at a speed 10-100 times higher than current radio frequency systems, which have been used in space missions until now.

"The laser communications demo will allow signals to be sent at high data transfer speeds over the greatest distance from Earth to the Red Planet. Thus, it paves the way for higher-data-rate communications capable of sending complex scientific information, high-definition imagery, and video in support of humanity’s next giant leap: sending humans to Mars," as stated in NASA's announcement.

Recall that earlier, The Gaze reported that researchers from the University of Chicago discovered an "ideal" Solar System called HD110067, which was created without powerful cosmic collisions and has remained almost unchanged since its formation 12 billion years ago.