Astrophysical Internet: NASA’s Extraterrestrial Communication Propelled by 31 Million Kilometers Laser-Beamed Spacecraft, Broadcasting Ultra High-Definition Cat Videos Upon Earth’s Return

NASA has announced a breakthrough in high-speed data connection with the Psyche spacecraft, which orbits between Mars and Jupiter. The spacecraft has installed the Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment set for high-speed data transmission with Earth. The results of the experiment have successfully sent Ultra HD video of cats back to Earth.

This experiment sent a 15-second test video back to Earth with a maximum bandwidth of 267 Mbps, using near-infrared lasers directly to the Palomar Observatory’s telescope. The distance covered was 31 million kilometers, which is 80 times the distance from Earth to the Moon. This test achieved a bandwidth higher than normal radio waves by a factor of 10-100. It opens up the possibility of high-speed communication across space in the future.

The cat in this video is named Taters and is the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) researcher’s pet. The video was sent along with test graphic images and data from the Psyche spacecraft.

In this announcement, NASA personnel quietly expressed their frustration that the internet connection between JPL and the Palomar Observatory’s telescope is slower than the link through which the Psyche spacecraft sends data back to Earth.

TLDR; NASA successfully connected high-speed data with the Psyche spacecraft using the Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment. They transmitted an Ultra HD video of a cat back to Earth, showcasing the potential for future high-speed communication across space.