Maybe one of the most essential tests that NASA has ever conducted was completed earlier this month when scientists beamed a 15-second clip of Taters the cat to Earth from 19 million miles away.
Don’t worry! The cat wasn’t itself 19 million miles away from Earth, as the footage was on board the space agency’s Deep Space Optical Communications equipment, which was launched into space and sent on its mission on Oct. 13.
The purpose of the mission was to test and improve laser beam communications from remote parts of the solar system.
Taters, the cat who became the star of the show, is owned by an employee of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, where the mission was completed with extraordinary success.
“Despite transmitting from millions of miles away, it was able to send the video faster than most broadband internet connections,” JPL electronics lead Ryan Rogalin shared in a statement.
The video was projected from its rocket and received by the Hale telescope at the Palomar observatory. It was then downloaded and streamed to the JPL and played in real-time.
The DSOC mission is testing several different types of technology and how they deliver content from deep space to Earth.
NASA deputy administrator Pam Melroy says that the latest achievement has perfectly showcased the need to continue to find better solutions to the often-used radio frequencies.
“This accomplishment underscores our commitment to advancing optical communications as a key element to meeting our future data transmission needs,” Melroy said.
To watch the video that was sent to Earth, click the YouTube link here.