Photons 2 Protons

I'm Nick, an astrophysics major, and this is my attempt to share the wonder and beauty of space with the world.

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[quantumvyp3r]

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Roses are red Violets are red Everything is red Who let Edwin near the Hubble constant again?

[klesey]

The Andromeda Galaxy is 2 million light years away from us so what we see now is how it appeared 2 million years ago. It will collide with our Milky Way in 2 billions years from now. The two galaxies are heading towards each other at a rate of 430 km/hr. A billion years from now Andromeda will loom as a spectacular site, eventually swelling to fill half of the night sky.

[mindblowingscience]

NASA's new light-based modem will transmit data up to 100 times faster than radio signals

Crunching data at the speed of light.

NASA is developing a first-if-its-kind modem that incorporates light-based technology to help enable dramatically faster communications between spacecraft and ground stations.

The device, which is scheduled to be tested on board the International Space Station in 2020, is part of a broader NASA project called the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD). This laser system, which the space agency says could dramatically overhaul today’s radio frequency (RF) communications, will enable data transmissions at rates 10 to 100 times faster than what’s currently possible.

It’s not the first time NASA has experimented with laser communications in place of radio signals. In 2013, the agency achieved record-breaking download and upload speeds to and from lunar orbit – at 622 megabits per second (Mbps) and 20 Mbps respectively – with its Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE).

The LCRD project, however, is designed to be the basis of an ongoing operational system once initial tests, due to begin in 2019, are complete. And part of what will help NASA demonstrate the feasibility of its laser communications setup is the new integrated-photonics modem.

Continue Reading.

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