NASA succeeds with first deep space communication test

NASA has succeeded in a first test of its new deep-space communication technology, which you might one day use to check in on your son, who recently moved to Mars.
The quiz for this week's science news is here: quizwithit.com/start_thequiz/...
The complete science news playlist is here: • Trial to deliver defib...
🤓 Check out our new quiz app ➜ quizwithit.com/
💌 Support us on Donatebox ➜ donorbox.org/swtg
📝 Transcripts and written news on Substack ➜ sciencewtg.substack.com/
👉 Transcript with links to references on Patreon ➜ / sabine
📩 Free weekly science newsletter ➜ sabinehossenfelder.com/newsle...
👂 Audio only podcast ➜ open.spotify.com/show/0MkNfXl...
🔗 Join this channel to get access to perks ➜
/ @sabinehossenfelder
🖼️ On instagram ➜ / sciencewtg
#science #sciencenews #shortly

[@SabineHossenfelder]

Hi all, thanks for suffering with me through the first week of the daily science news We are making continuous revisions to take into account your feedback and hope that your experience will improve in the next weeks. Due to popular demand, the telephone and bobbly-head Einstein will make a reappearance in the coming days. We'll also introduce a new channel tier for an ad-free version of the weekly summary. My team and me are working hard behind the scenes and appreciate your patience 🙏 You can watch all news items back to back in our playlist: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aoLclq2Fm9Coe68

[@Marqan]

I really like these shorter videos (up to around 5 mins), makes it easier to watch for sure!

[@drgunsmith4099]

I’d never suffer your uploads 🙏

[@vasiliigulevich9202]

@@Marqan and makes it easy to cherry-pick! And to keep comments more focused.

[@reinerheiner1148]

My honest opinion - I don't like these shorter videos. I always enjoyed news after news, with some comedy in between, just to have maybe 20 minutes of calm science news. Now its just a minute or so, then its over.

[@SabineHossenfelder]

@@reinerheiner1148 You can watch all news items back to back in our playlist. You can also skip on that playlist, like you might have done before between the video chapters: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bquok5SrrdKfbdU

[@lugui]

this was a really smart way to complain about the local ISP

[@drgunsmith4099]

Absolutely

[@PexiTheBuilder]

Mars have fiber before starlink covers truly remote locations. Most of them are only over crowded areas now, totally opposite what their purpose suppose to be.

[@TheBenenene10]

@@PexiTheBuilder You do know how satellites orbit right? When they get inter satellite communication in LEO to work, being remote won't be an issue

[@danieloberhofer9035]

Judging from where Sabine probably lives, her comment on the availability of Internet access was most likely close to the truth and not just a snarky remark. Germany feels like a developing country in that regard.

[@PigeonHoot]

​@@danieloberhofer9035thats just called earth in general bud

[@0-by-1_Publishing_LLC]

Unfortunately, all deep space transmissions from Earth are flagged as spam by other planets.

[@SabineHossenfelder]

Ha, wish I'd thought of this!

[@nils-erikolsson3539]

😂

[@greatPretender79]

....and that's why deep space transmissions from earth need Nord VPN.

[@Ott3r5losh]

This comment is light years ahead of its time, under rated.

[@getsideways7257]

- We;ve been trying to reach you to talk about your spacecraft's extended warranty... - Argh, for the Galaxy's sake!!!

[@brothermine2292]

This video is too short. It should have answered related questions, such as how the spacecraft is able to aim its laser accurately toward Palomar, how much the laser beam disperses at that distance, and the technological limits on maximum communication distance.

[@douginorlando6260]

Real engineering questions👍

[@bayartist]

Please go back to the previous format; one video a week. These short videos are more difficult for me to track. Thank you and keep up the good work.

[@jimcabezola3051]

It really makes me happy to hear that the good, old Mt. Palomar observatory is STILL being used for vital science! When I was a child long ago, I used to see pictures and hear news about the work being done with that instrument. Even the drive to and from the observatory has been a lot of fun for me. Mahalo for this update!

[@silentmajority8365]

Vital? No its not Vital is curing cancer This is playing

[@Doozy_Titter]

I personally prefer the previous format with longer videos. I like the anticipation and the extra time so that I can watch it while I eat something

[@kalimero86]

They can use more adds this way. It's all about money, again.

[@mike42441]

Me too !!!

[@MCsCreations]

Fascinating! Thanks, Sabine! 😊 Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊 And happy holidays!

[@SabineHossenfelder]

Happy holidays to you too!

[@JM-us3fr]

I’ve seen the Palomar observatory! I used to go to summer camp up there. The cities near Palomar have special streetlights to reduce light pollution.

[@Egirl_Slayer]

My 3rd year project was actually to do with Interstellar Deep Space Laser Communication with Extra-Terrestrial Civilisations so its nice to see this!

[@SebSenseGreen]

"Not a joke!" And I completely believe you.

[@vagabondcaleb8915]

That's decent bandwidth, but the ping has to be insane.

[@mm-yt8sf]

i thought with voyager we were already really good with long range communication, but...i guess i never thought to look up what kind of bandwidth we have way out there

[@yeahamalice1457]

Yeah, now the bandwidth is getting better because of the use of laser communication instead of radio

[@davidhand9721]

The bandwidth of the Voyager probes was _awful_

[@kricketflyd111]

Reminds me of how interesting these waves are in a vacuum. I would love a description of why a phone will receive a signal but your voice will not be heard. It's like a carrier is not present. 🌼.

[@hamjudo]

​@@davidhand9721 They receive 16 bits per second. They are transmitting most data at 160 bits per second. Voyager 1 can send bursts of data at 2.8kbps, but only to a huge NASA dish. When they were at Jupiter they could transmit at 115.2kbps.

[@luminiferous1960]

According to NASA: "The DSOC experiment aims to demonstrate data transmission rates 10 to 100 times greater than the state-of-the-art radio frequency systems used by spacecraft today...While optical communication has been demonstrated in low Earth orbit and out to the Moon, DSOC is the first test in deep space." DSOC is an acronym for Deep Space Optical Communications.

[@eonasjohn]

Thank you for the short.

[@gefginn3699]

I'm not suffering. I am ALWAYS Happy to tune in to every new post here. Have a great week Sabine and crew.

[@5roundsrapid263]

I feel your pain, Sabine. My home didn’t get fiber until earlier this year. I’m in a fairly large city, and most areas had it 4-5 years ago.

[@EduardoEscarez]

I live in the downtown part of my city, the 2nd-3th most important of my country, in the only area that still doesn't upgrade to fiber. I had to get the second best option, HFC (coaxial), with a nice download but horrible upload bandwidth 😑

[@silentmajority8365]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣weak generation

[@macsnafu]

I should have thought of this right away. I like the short videos, but I understand why some people prefer the longer news videos. So do both. That is, make the longer video, then cut it up into shorter clips and release those as well. Another channel I watch does these long interviews with people, then makes clips of sections of the interviews that focuses on a particular topic or subject. And they release both the full interview and the shorter clips from the interview.

[@jeffreysims1249]

Thats extra work but I wish she would do this. Should make everone happy. I never skip a video mostly because I like her the way she covers topics. Sometime I find I enjoyed a topic presented by her that i did not know I had an interest in.

[@AkaRyrye83]

​@jeffreysims1249 It wouldnt be much work at all. The clips are already done, so just cut out the appropriate part & upload

[@SabineHossenfelder]

We are now offering a weekly compilation for members (ad-free), the one for this week is already available.

[@jeffreysims1249]

TY@@SabineHossenfelder

[@rolty1]

Good afternoon Sabine, youre looking great today!

[@6135minecraft]

I feel like shorter videos just make me click more times, it does shorten the wait time between and probably increases total watch time but for me its a pain having to check every day for a new video if the feed doesn't serve it to me. Condensing maybe two or three days worth of news might be a good middle term. Alas im pretty sure im an outlier as i do prefer 15+ minute videos as it gives me a chance fo catch up on chores while still listening, learning and stimulating my brain. Edit: I feel more compelled to only watch the news that seem interesting instead of the whole thing. Which might make me miss something cool

[@SabineHossenfelder]

I understand what you mean, but keeping 4 items together wouldn't solve the problem that I don't know what to put in the title.

[@MrGaborseres]

Awesome 👌 👍

[@thomass2935]

Great vids for us with limited attention spans!!

[@Krakenfall]

I love this content, but I'm concerned it's too short. The KZbin algorithm may consider shorter videos as shorter watchtime (and shorter engagement) and suggest them less. At least, this is what I've heard other creators talk about with short content like this. At any rate, thanks for the great news!

[@SabineHossenfelder]

Yes that's a plausible concern. But is it worse than lumping all in one video so that no one really knows what's in it?

[@uku4171]

​@@SabineHossenfelderI mean, you never know what's in the news, but you still watch it to keep up to date.

[@JouMxyzptlk]

I miss a bit details about the amazing precision they achieved, having the sending laser to hit an area of about 300 km wide from that insane distance and including the correction that the signal needs 20 minutes - so it needs to fire its laser to where that region of earth will be in 20 minutes.

[@silentmajority8365]

Calculating the velocity of solar flares reflected off Uranus

[@JouMxyzptlk]

@@silentmajority8365 Sure you commented on the right video ? :D

[@user-my5vo]

I'm really enjoying these shorter videos. These are a lot easier for me to squeeze in during the day, when I might not have 20 minutes spare. They feel really concise and to-the-point, which is nice!

[@grimaffiliations3671]

i feel like they couldve been shortened to 10 mins, less than 2 minute videos are a little ridiculous

[@user-my5vo]

@@grimaffiliations3671 Definitely! But if you look at the chapters within a longer science news video, the shorter chapters are more or less this short too. So don't think of it as a 20-minute video getting shortened into a 2-minute video, but a 20-minute video getting split into 10 different 2-minute videos.

[@das_schnitzel]

Feels to me like an attempt to somehow improve on the bottom line. I don’t know how KZbin works and all that but this does not feel right

[@grimaffiliations3671]

@@das_schnitzel i remember youtubers stretching their content to 10 mins because it helped the algorithm, guess that isn't a thing anymore

[@alainbergeron1675]

Hello Sabine, I preferred the old way you did the weekly science news. I know you mentioned the KZbin algorithm , but I just wanted to mention it.

[@user-om4it7oh8j]

We love you!

[@nihilisticone4215]

Good bandwidth, but atrocious ping 🤣

[@matusknives]

Your joke on broadband Internet in Germany was highly appreciated.

[@Joanne-vr4zu]

We adore this human being

[@grimaffiliations3671]

aren't there any algorithmic advantages to having video's hit the 10 minute mark? This feels like KZbin short or tiktok content

[@aeneas-sails]

@SabineHossenfelder, Thank you for your channel, and for your fun wit!

[@naas_the_serpent]

Psyche is just the best name ever 😂

[@michaeldwyer9656]

I'm smiling, thanks to you. I will support you whatever you choose, but I like the "shorts" as well as the traditional video length.

[@fernandogarajalde4066]

“I’m sorry, the number you have dialed is no longer in service” 😆

[@sapelesteve]

Really enjoying these brief & concise videos Sabine! Well done! 👍👍

[@uku4171]

Awesome. I wonder if they'll make a new deep space internet-style network.

[@olibertosoto5470]

Lol! Same here with our providers.

[@CubemasterXD]

i feel you on the german internet speed... until a couple years ago, we had to suffer through 200 KB/s due to living on a farm in the middle of nowhere... downloading a good game had to be planned a week in advance and run for multiple nights >.

[@philochristos]

I wonder when they are going to tackle subspace communication.

[@punkeasy]

Well it's kins of a long distance! But remember, "The universe is big, very BIG"

[@dmpi483]

Wow. Mt Palomar got a new job.

[@renesoucy3444]

Do the bits overlap like in fiber optics, 1.2 Mb/sec is rather slow for a laser that could push that to Tb/s range, if they’re close, maybe?

[@Killer_Kovacs]

This would be a good application of quantum entanglement.

[@TotallyFred]

Sounds like Proximus is not the only slow moving ISP.

[@blackt0wer]

Interestingly, NASA has been proofing the concept for decades, as we're still talking to Voyagers 1 and 2.

[@Misophist]

Voyager uses radio, not laser, both electromagnetic waves, but with very different characteristics. Laser has much better directionality, so you don't lose so much energy, as you do with the omnidirectional characteristics of radio. OTHO, this means, that you need to be more precise when pointing your senders/receivers. This also means, that listening in would be more difficult

[@brothermine2292]

Voyager doesn't use a laser beam, but perhaps V'ger will.

[@timvw01]

The longer news videos are off the table now?

[@BloodyMobile]

A reminder of interplanetary data transmission, which puts things into perspective is, that even with laser transmissions, you'll NOT get a ping below 1000 to the moon. Simply because even light takes (roughly) a second from there to us. And as far as I remember, that's the 1-way ping. Round trip is at least twice that. In that context are 1.2 mbit through space quite something. Definitely beats dial-up and throttled 3G by a LOT.

[@GeorgeCMcRae]

Will you get modified spam calls about deep space transport warrantee offers?

[@alanhamilton9633]

Nasa has been pretty good at longrange distance communication for a while. Simple protocols and very simple signal coding seems to work. Discovery of the Apollo mission: it doesent need to be complicated!

[@frankmccann29]

Thank you, Sabine. Gravity has a signature and I think I found it. We see shortly..😊

[@spark5558]

Basically a Tightbeam

[@markh.harris9271]

very funny dig at ISP ; there will be fiber optic cable on Mars before here... 😅

[@DoctorOnkelap]

if they would have used a visible laser wavelength, would it be possible to see the communication from certain locations?

[@Sciolist]

Changed the notification settings for the channel, if I'm going to be bombarded by 2 minute videos from now on, I prefer to check them in my own time.

[@burnstick1380]

1.2 Mbit/s may sound terrible for some but just for pictures and commands it's plenty. Live streamed video is a bit more difficult though^^.

[@Hugh_I]

It's probably not the intended use case anyways, but you can do ok live video at those datarates, just not at amazing resolutions/frame rates. a 360p@30Hz video at about youtube 360p quality should about fit. More aggressive compression or probably better just going with a lower framerate should allow a meh quality 720p feed. Good enough for a live feed of approaching an asteroid, landing on Mars or similar. Any images intended for detailed analysis can be stored and uploaded later.

[@burnstick1380]

@@Hugh_I Yeah oc you can stream a video but 360p / 30 Hz isn't really great. Higher resolutions but lower framerate prob. wouldn't be terrible for space videos since there are huge distances involved^^. Also if one just wants to capture a video of a certain time event one can store it locally and then transmit it at a lower speed. Not sure how good compression is since power is limited and compression usually takes up quite a bit of CPU power. Also pretty sure astronomers don't want to get the raw data for processing (so if at all it should be lossless)

[@precursors]

Take a shot every time Anton says “olotov”😂 edit: oops wrong video

[@JuliusUnique]

how did the communicate before? Lasers seem like a good idea but I dont know how they are currently communicating, just with microwaves?

[@rizizum]

With radiowaves

[@FredPlanatia]

interesting 1Mbit/sec with the laser link. how does this compare with the data rate to the psyche probe using the current deep space network setup? I think a deeper dive on space communication would be very interesting. I heard that traditional radio based communication data rate scales as 1/r2 which makes sense to me if the transmission is nondirectional and the energy is spread out on the surface of an expanding sphere. But with laser communication it is by its nature highly directional and i was guessing it would be more efficient. However, I saw a claim that optical communication scales as 1/r4 and is best at short distances. Seems like an interesting topic where your physics background would enlighten us.

[@Llortnerof]

The scaling is the same. It's still electromagnetic radiation. The different rates are for different mediums, not different wavelengths. Since space is a vacuum, it's still proportional to 1/r^2.

[@luminiferous1960]

According to NASA: "The DSOC experiment aims to demonstrate data transmission rates 10 to 100 times greater than the state-of-the-art radio frequency systems used by spacecraft today...While optical communication has been demonstrated in low Earth orbit and out to the Moon, DSOC is the first test in deep space." DSOC is an acronym for Deep Space Optical Communications. The 1/r^4 scaling applies to free space optical communications systems that use modulated retroreflectors for two-way communications because the beam area grows as r^2 on each leg of the round-trip, reducing the irradiance as 1/r^2 on each leg of the round-trip. This is the same range scaling as for radar and lidar systems against point-like targets. The situation is somewhat different for two-way optical communications with active transceivers at each end since the amount of power at each end is not dependent on the power received at that end as it is in the case of modulated retroreflector systems. With two-way active transceivers, one end transmits a laser at a certain power level and beam divergence to the other end which receives a portion of that laser signal, and that end then generates its own laser signal at a certain power level and beam divergence which may differ from those of the other laser. The two lasers may even be at different wavelengths. In this case, the laser signals on each leg are not dependent on the laser characteristics on the other leg. The laser irradiance on each leg scales independently as 1/r^2. When propagating through an atmosphere there are additional transmission losses to the irradiance due to absorption, scattering, and turbulence. I'm not sure what you consider to be short or long range for optical communications, but according to NASA "On April 28, [2023] NASA and its partners achieved another major milestone in the future of space communications - achieving 200 gigabit per second (Gbps) throughput on a space-to-ground optical link between a satellite in orbit and Earth, the highest data rate ever achieved by optical communications technology...This communications link was achieved by the TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (TBIRD) system, carried into orbit by NASA’s Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator 3 (PTD-3) satellite, and surpasses the previous 100 Gbps milestone previously demonstrated by the same team in June 2022."

[@bobweiram6321]

How did the Apollo missions communicate with the earth?

[@luminiferous1960]

@@bobweiram6321 According to NASA: "Telecommunications included voice, television, data, and tracking and ranging subsystems for communications between astronauts, CM [Command Module], LM [Lunar Module], and Earth. Voice contact was provided by an S-band uplink and downlink system. Tracking was done through a unified S-band transponder. A high gain steerable S-band antenna consisting of four 79-cm diameter parabolic dishes was mounted on a folding boom at the aft end of the SM [Service Module]. Two VHF scimitar antennas were also mounted on the SM. There was also a VHF recovery beacon mounted in the CM." Note: The S band is a designation by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for a part of the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum covering frequencies from 2 to 4 gigahertz (GHz). The Very High Frequency (VHF) band refers to the frequency range between 30 MHz and 300 MHz. VHF signals have wavelengths ranging from one to ten meters. Also, note that terrestrial television channels are divided into two bands: the VHF band which comprises channels 2 through 13 and occupies frequencies between 54 and 216 MHz, and the UHF band, which comprises channels 14 through 36 and occupies frequencies between 470 and 700 MHz.

[@jaimeduncan6167]

@@Llortnerofcan you delete your message , it’s not proportional to r^2 because it’s a Laser and the square root law is afecten by a medium (so you are correct in that sense ) but it’s misleading , you really have to go into attenuation to see the law broken. At KZbin comment level the square law has nothing to do with vacuum.

[@1Grr8Guy]

Next step: Galactic Positioning System.

[@mandy2tomtube]

18 years I waited for broadband

[@borisjerkunica4442]

what is the latency?

[@alanw737]

Throwing shade at your local ISP....

[@Thomas-gk42]

🌹🍀interesting.

[@alanhamilton9633]

Problem is, laser comms between satellites/earth stations is new territory and there’s all kinds of things like dust and gas that could interfere for deep space use.

[@AndrewGrey22]

I was hoping for instant quantum communication lol.

[@clifzede]

Did we actually get through the van Allen belts for the moon landing? I never had any reason to question it until sometime around 2014 when NASA themselves made it a issue. Perpetually curious I guess

[@JouMxyzptlk]

They did, and they were lucky at the first times it was not fired up (much). Later they learned what could have been if it would have been fired up.

[@python27au]

But haven’t we been communicating with voyager?

[@silentmajority8365]

I think you should move to Mars or Uranus Why set up communication if nobody is there?

[@protector7886]

I’m loving the shorter videos! I’m not always able to watch the longer ones completely

[@MatthewSuffidy]

When 1.2 mbit isn't a horrible data rate, it is pretty low. Now I get the internet totally through my apple iphone and I get like 60mbit.

[@Gayathri-qt1bn]

Dont make short vedios. Make long ones as you did earlier

[@drgunsmith4099]

Fantastic work just wish the aliens 👽 would pick up 😂

[@GEOsustainable]

So what you're saying, Sabine, is I should move to Mars if I want Satellite Internet?

[@festeradams3972]

Took them while to catch up with sci-fi..."Com Lasers".

[@johannnyborg3998]

What are you talking about? We have optic kabels here, Denmark smug.

[@tommckinney1489]

Love the shorter videos, thank you!

[@normanbell-br7nf]

👍

[@EarthShadowFilms]

Lordy… I kinda miss the old format A LOT. It was nice to put on a science news show in the background while I work with my hands, but now I have to work harder to skip all the promos and get on to someone else’s longer form content so I I don’t have to touch this screen.

[@TheWiseMonkey8888]

Thats Crazy... zero internet... fine now :D

[@DuelPorpoise]

I went to quiz wit hit instead, I hope you don’t mind.

[@manoharbs]

First time,the video is quick view 😅

[@HassanGaba1]

Met Rishi a few hours ago and he asked if you know Sabine's telephone is out of order. So I thought I'd just let you know 😅

[@niallmacnei1462]

The picture of Mars is in fact the Moon during a lunar eclipse. :-P

[@khosrofakhreddini7824]

Deep space or interstellar communication?

[@Level10Productions]

So earth gets in the way and pushes on us. What non-force is making us fall then? Curved space? If so, how? Anyone?

[@davidtatro7457]

One more reason to seriously question the decades-long hunt for advanced civilizations by attempting to monitor for massive, omnidirectional radio broadcasts. Any civilization advanced enough to be interplanetary would surely use much more efficient and finely targeted means of communication among themselves.

[@martf1061]

Just like any languages, you need to learn it before able to understand it. Every electromagnetic waves we send toward the sky, in search for "whatever" , is nonsense, and will mostly be interpreted by who-ever, like some parasite noise .

[@Llortnerof]

Definitely, simply for economic reasons. Pretty much the only reason to do such a broadcast in the first place is because you *want* to be found.

[@davidtatro7457]

@martf1061 or, in many cases, to even realize that communication is happening at all.

[@martf1061]

@@davidtatro7457 exactly

[@auntjenifer7774]

😂 so how did they talk to the moon landers @???

[@kenmccormick8059]

Microwave; S-band to be precise. This is using lasers, and has the potential to send data, such as images, at a much faster rate.

[@breakeverychain7]

Waiting for quantum

[@heikojakob6491]

How does this differ from the satellite laser communications produced and sold by tesat? www.tesat.de

[@bobweiram6321]

Didn't NASA already have deep space communications capabilities during the Apollo era?

[@jemdeweare6432]

Fast internet to mars but not on earth , hahaha

[@donm5354]

Just dont send any more signals to stars which may have planets with 👽s ... Ive seen the film BATTLESHIP 😱

[@Hugh_I]

If they switch from radio, which is basically broadcasting in all kinds of directions, to tight beam laser communication, that makes it significantly less likely that the signal reaches any other planet at all.

I disabled notifications but Im still getting them since Im a member, is there any way to turn them off without stopping being a member? I still want them for channels pushing member updates like once a year

[@vasiliigulevich9202]

Try using OS function to disable specific notification category. Usually they can be accessed from the notification UI.

@@vasiliigulevich9202 All member updates notifications from youtube are obviously in the same category. To be clear, I love Sabine videos and how much I've learned from them, but I don't like notifications coming to often and I still want updates from different channels. Perhaps I need to stop being a member/unsubscribe just staying on patreon if there's no other way.

[@SabineHossenfelder]

Sorry, these notifications go out automatically. If I could I'd prefer to not send them.

[@vasiliigulevich9202]

@ Not obvious at all - some applications like SMS reader and Telegram are creating a separate category for each channel/correspondent. Also I can specifically mute comments by Sabine in my Android client (which is not what you want here, but shows a degree of customization available)

@@vasiliigulevich9202 thank you, I'll check the context menu once more when the next one shows up, maybe I missed something (it's iOS though)

[@user-by3io4gn6e]

سابین،،دیدن اطراف در مکان، ارتباط در هسته..

[@marknovak6498]

The future comes tantizing slow. Fas connection here but not asblazing as I want

[@DwarfInBlues]

Local internet speeds are not a joking matter. 😭

[@garrybrown8029]

Why are they no satellites positioned around the moon so that we may have images of the “Dark-Side” relayed to earth in real time. There would be a great deal of interest if this were “possible” Maybe they are already positioned, for those “Privileged” ??? 🙏

[@Hugh_I]

China has the Queqiao relay satellite positioned at the L2 point on the far side of the moon. It's just a relay satellite that they launched to communicate with their far side moon lander (Chang'e 4), so I think no cameras on board, but it would certainly be possible to put a camera there. Though I guess a live video feed would be fairly pointless as there's not much change in what you see compared to just staring at a single picture.

[@arctic_haze]

I love this format. On the topic, I've been to Pamomar Mountain Observatory multiple times and I am happy it is still used for novel things

[@azrobbins01]

It seems inconceivable to me that a small satellite can emit a signal strong enough to be picked up on earth 10,000,000 miles away, and at 1.2mbit/s, no less. It seems like this would break the laws of physics somehow.

[@Llortnerof]

That's mostly just poor understanding of physics. There isn't much interference going on and we know where the signal is coming from. We're communicating with satellites with much weaker emitters from much bigger distances. The data rate is just much worse.

[@douginorlando6260]

Low cost Starship payloads combined with high bandwidth deep space laser communications will usher in a new era of astronomy. I foresee one NASA team managing dozens of identical deep space probes, systematically visiting hundreds of asteroids and moons similar to the Dawn probe. One starship could send dozens of probes out, each assigned a series of asteroids to circle closely and transmit complete high resolution spectral mapping data before moving to the next one. Other probes would be designed to land on small asteroids with very low gravity, analyze samples and then jump off and move on the the next asteroid. Next generation GAIA satellites could be sent out past Saturn for 10 times longer baseline and 10 times better parallax resolution. Extremely Low weight large dish radio telescopes will proliferate in high orbit around earth and around the sun for 100 times higher resolution and 10,000 times higher resolution respectively.