How Astronauts Speak To Folks On Earth: No Cellular Community, No Cables – Then How Does It Work?


New Delhi: Indian Air Pressure Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla made historical past this week. He reached the Worldwide House Station as a part of a multi-national mission. From 400 kilometres above Earth, he had a video name with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The 2 spoke about his experiences, the calm wanted in house and the delight of representing India.

However after that decision, a wave of questions flooded social media. The most typical one was how is that this even attainable? There isn’t a cellular tower in house. No Wi-Fi routers floating round. No web cables dangling by the celebrities. So how did a video name occur from that far above Earth?

House has no air. It’s a vacuum. Sound can not journey there the best way it does on Earth. There are not any telecom towers, no broadband cables and no networks like 4G or 5G. And but, astronauts keep in fixed contact with Earth. House companies discuss to them daily. Footage from house come again to us. Reside calls occur. Even livestreams.

So, how?

The reply lies in many years of science, engineering and an internet of satellites and antennas.

NASA runs a world communication setup. It’s referred to as House Communications and Navigation (SCaN). It isn’t a single machine or satellite tv for pc however a complete system constructed over many years.

Throughout all continents, NASA has positioned large antennas – every about 230 ft tall. They don’t seem to be hidden in cities. These huge dishes are in distant areas and thoroughly chosen. Their job is to ship and obtain indicators from spacecraft shifting 1000’s of kilometers per hour.

That velocity is likely one of the greatest challenges. Spacecraft usually are not static. They orbit Earth at speeds that make communication troublesome. However these antennas, supported by monitoring software program, can observe each motion.

Then come the relay satellites. These don’t discover house. They float above Earth, always positioned to regulate astronauts and their automobiles. They act like middlemen – selecting up indicators and passing them alongside to floor stations.

Each message, whether or not it’s a textual content, picture or video name follows a fundamental path: transmitter → community → receiver.

In house, the transmitter may very well be a console contained in the ISS. The community is a mixture of high-frequency radio waves, satellites and relay methods. The receiver is likely one of the huge floor antennas again on Earth.

NASA principally makes use of radio waves proper now. However it is usually engaged on one thing even quicker – infrared lasers. The hope is that at some point, astronauts will ship big quantities of knowledge again to Earth utilizing laser-based communication. That might imply clearer calls, quicker downloads and extra exact management.

India’s Position and Future

India is now a part of this world story. Shubhanshu Shukla’s mission provides a brand new chapter. Indian scientists are additionally engaged on higher communication methods for house.

India’s house company ISRO is organising its personal deep house community for future missions like Gaganyaan and Chandrayaan.

When PM Modi spoke to Shukla, it was greater than a symbolic name. It confirmed how far Indian house capabilities have come. And it additionally revealed how invisible however highly effective the communication net between Earth and house actually is.

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